Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 3,718,521 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 212.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,468,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,718,521 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.25% of Kinder Morgan worth $156,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 303,044 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,303,000 after buying an additional 15,114 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,265,044 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $62,062,000 after purchasing an additional 44,474 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $385,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,774,000. Finally, Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on KMI. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays upgraded Kinder Morgan from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, May 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.21.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE:KMI traded up $0.01 on Thursday, hitting $27.53. 3,677,058 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,976,428. The company has a market cap of $61.17 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.47 and a 1 year high of $31.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.45.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This is an increase from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is 100.86%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.57, for a total transaction of $496,260.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 789,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,770,705.64. The trade was a 2.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,522,440. Corporate insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

About Kinder Morgan

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.