KLCM Advisors Inc. Sells 93,740 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Key Points

• KLCM Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. by 76.3%, selling 93,740 shares and ending the first quarter with 29,072 shares valued at approximately $829,000.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Kinder Morgan, with JPMorgan increasing its target from $30 to $32, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for the stock.
• In Q2, Kinder Morgan reported earnings per share of $0.28, meeting expectations, while revenue increased by 13.2% from the same quarter last year, totaling $4.04 billion.

KLCM Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 76.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,072 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 93,740 shares during the quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 14.1% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 6,442,093 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $183,793,000 after purchasing an additional 794,388 shares during the period. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth about $377,000. Burney Co. boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 133.5% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 442,044 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $12,612,000 after buying an additional 252,736 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 402.5% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 39,393 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 31,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 389,588 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $10,675,000 after buying an additional 56,147 shares during the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:KMI traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.69. 13,657,267 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,484,992. The stock has a market cap of $59.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.78. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.56 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

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

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total value of $1,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 159,428 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,494,275.32. This represents a 20.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total value of $508,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,842 shares of company stock worth $3,896,180 in the last three months. 12.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cowen initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded Kinder Morgan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $32.00 price objective (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.20.

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.