Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 45,857 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 8.0%, acquiring 45,857 shares to own a total of 618,080 shares worth approximately $17.6 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Westwood Holdings Group Inc. and AdvisorNet Financial Inc., also significantly raised their holdings in Kinder Morgan during the first quarter, enhancing institutional ownership to over 62% of the company.
• Kinder Morgan's recent quarterly earnings met consensus estimates with an EPS of $0.28, alongside a revenue of $4.04 billion, which exceeded analyst expectations of $3.75 billion.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 618,080 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 45,857 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $17,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KMI. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 1st quarter valued at about $205,966,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 37.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,281,385 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $578,628,000 after purchasing an additional 5,529,065 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 212.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,468,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $156,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,718,521 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 435.0% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $119,416,000 after purchasing an additional 3,543,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,499,000. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 target price (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $34.00 target price on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Cowen assumed coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.20.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $26.69. 13,657,267 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,484,992. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.78. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.56 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $27.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.37.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $508,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 771,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,806,885.52. This represents a 2.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $171,414.80. Following the sale, the vice president owned 232,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,450,545.20. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 139,842 shares of company stock worth $3,896,180. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.