Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Lowers Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 19.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 698,888 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 172,550 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $19,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 303,044 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,303,000 after acquiring an additional 15,114 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,265,044 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $62,062,000 after acquiring an additional 44,474 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $385,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $21,774,000. Finally, Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $377,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.57, for a total value of $496,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 789,652 shares in the company, 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 the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock worth $1,522,440 over the last ninety days. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on KMI. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised 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 Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.21.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

NYSE:KMI traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.01. 17,013,984 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,022,594. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.45. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $27.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.43. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.47 and a 1 year high of $31.48. The company has a market cap of $62.23 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 16.67% and a return on equity of 8.11%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.2925 per share. 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. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is 100.86%.

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.