Rafferty Asset Management LLC Lowers Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. by 15.5%, now holding 376,863 shares worth approximately $10.75 million.
• In contrast, Sierra Ocean LLC increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 927.1% during the same period, acquiring additional shares valued at $25,000.
• Analysts have raised their price targets on Kinder Morgan shares, with Wells Fargo upping it from $33.00 to $34.00, indicating a generally positive outlook on the stock.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 15.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 376,863 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 68,963 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $10,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the first quarter valued at approximately $6,814,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 10.9% during the first quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 246,588 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,035,000 after acquiring an additional 24,320 shares in the last quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 6.8% during the first quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,458 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.2% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 98,687 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,816,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICONIQ Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 22.0% during the first quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 9,259 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Kinder Morgan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 price objective (up from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.20.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $26.72 on Wednesday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.56 and a 12 month high of $31.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $27.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.33. The company has a market cap of $59.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.81.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28. The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.75 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 17.06%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.270-1.270 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.2925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is 95.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,759 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.21 per share, with a total value of $75,072.39. Following the acquisition, the director owned 34,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $945,928.44. This trade represents a 8.62% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total value of $1,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 159,428 shares in the company, valued at $4,494,275.32. This trade represents a 20.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 121,842 shares of company stock worth $3,387,500 in the last three months. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

Kinder Morgan, Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in North America. The company operates through Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, Terminals, and CO2 segments. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment owns and operates interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline, and storage systems; natural gas gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities; natural gas liquids fractionation facilities and transportation systems; and liquefied natural gas gasification, liquefaction, and storage facilities.