Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Shares Bought by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 26.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,952 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 28,517 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $3,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KMI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $917,523,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position 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 valued at $156,009,000 after buying an additional 3,718,521 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 435.0% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $119,416,000 after buying an additional 3,543,670 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,729,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 223.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,465,980 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $94,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,395,930 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the president owned 771,652 shares in the company, valued at $21,806,885.52. The trade was a 2.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on KMI. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday. They set a "buy" rating and a $34.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.40.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

KMI stock traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $27.85. 11,279,457 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,960,972. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.68 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.75.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released 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 analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is presently 100.86%.

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.