Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 52,093 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. by 35.4%, owning 95,083 shares valued at approximately $2.71 million after selling 52,093 shares in the first quarter.
• Insider transactions indicate President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares, decreasing his position by 2.28%, while the company retains a 12.73% insider ownership rate.
• Several brokerages raised their price targets for Kinder Morgan, with an average target of $31.13 from analysts, indicating a general favorable outlook on the stock's potential.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 35.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 95,083 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 52,093 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $2,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KMI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 212.5% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,468,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $156,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,718,521 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 435.0% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $119,416,000 after purchasing an additional 3,543,670 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,499,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 66.8% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,647,705 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $154,747,000 after buying an additional 2,261,924 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 7,788,045 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $213,392,000 after buying an additional 2,191,165 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

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 approximately $21,806,885.52. The trade was a 2.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,759 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.21 per share, with a total value of $75,072.39. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 34,764 shares in the company, valued at $945,928.44. This represents a 8.62% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE KMI traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.09. The stock had a trading volume of 10,498,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,402,537. The firm has a market cap of $62.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.75. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.68 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company's 50 day moving average price is $27.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.56.

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

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is 95.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 target price (up from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Scotiabank 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 report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $34.00 price target on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, July 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.13.

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.