Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Position Cut by Unigestion Holding SA

Unigestion Holding SA reduced its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 17.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 77,448 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 15,916 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA's holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 15,114 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2,507.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,430 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 15,800 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position 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 buying an additional 44,474 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at $385,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at about $21,774,000. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.3%

KMI stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.15. 11,891,717 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,994,933. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.46. The company has a market capitalization of $62.55 billion, a PE ratio of 24.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.47 and a twelve month 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.

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

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This is a positive change from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is presently 100.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.75, for a total transaction of $517,500.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 807,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,219,995. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,522,440. Company 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.