LPL Financial LLC Has $110.18 Million Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC reduced its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. by 0.4%, owning approximately 3.86 million shares valued at $110.2 million at the end of Q1.
• Analysts are optimistic about Kinder Morgan, with a consensus target price of $31.13 and several recent upgrades, including a price increase from Wells Fargo from $33.00 to $34.00.
• Kinder Morgan declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2925 per share, resulting in a 4.17% annualized yield; the payout ratio currently stands at 95.90%.

LPL Financial LLC lessened its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,861,989 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 16,341 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.17% of Kinder Morgan worth $110,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 212.5% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,468,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $156,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,718,521 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 435.0% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $119,416,000 after purchasing an additional 3,543,670 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth about $62,499,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 66.8% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,647,705 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $154,747,000 after buying an additional 2,261,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 7,788,045 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $213,392,000 after buying an additional 2,191,165 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $508,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 771,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,806,885.52. This trade represents a 2.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis bought 2,759 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.21 per share, with a total value of $75,072.39. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 34,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $945,928.44. The trade was a 8.62% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMI traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.09. 16,323,561 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,446,688. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $27.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.75. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.68 and a 12 month high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28. The company had revenue of $4.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.06% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 95.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KMI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Cowen started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 price target (up from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Kinder Morgan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.13.

Kinder Morgan 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.