National Pension Service Grows Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 4.5%, now owning approximately 4.78 million shares valued at $136.39 million.
• Insiders, including EVP Dax Sanders and CFO David Patrick Michels, sold significant portions of their shares, with Sanders selling 30,127 shares and Michels selling 40,000 shares, reflecting notable decreases in their ownership.
• Kinder Morgan recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2925 per share, representing an annualized yield of 4.4%, with a dividend payout ratio currently at 95.90%.

National Pension Service lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,780,703 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 207,208 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.22% of Kinder Morgan worth $136,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 204,148,872 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,824,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302,794 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,942,841 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $573,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608,499 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,529,065 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 15,002,375 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $428,018,000 after acquiring an additional 290,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,786,581 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $307,741,000 after acquiring an additional 553,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 0.6%

KMI stock traded down $0.16 on Friday, hitting $26.69. 13,657,267 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,484,992. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.56 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business's fifty day moving average is $27.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $32.00 price target (up from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sital K. Mody sold 45,549 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,273,550.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Dax Sanders sold 30,127 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.05, for a total transaction of $814,935.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 292,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,898,600. This represents a 9.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 139,842 shares of company stock worth $3,896,180. 12.73% of the stock is 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.