Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Sells 1,144,031 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management cut its Kinder Morgan stake by 23.8%, selling 1,144,031 shares in the third quarter and retaining 3,662,633 shares valued at about $110.4 million.
• Analysts give Kinder Morgan a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with an average price target of $37.15; the stock recently opened at $29.98.
• Kinder Morgan beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 9.3% year over year. It declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2975 per share, equal to a 4.0% annualized yield.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA cut its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,662,633 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 1,144,031 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.16% of Kinder Morgan worth $110,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.1% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 175,834,246 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,621,421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875,143 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 4.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 130,863,419 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,183,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,361,578 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 1.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,018,394 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,079,477,000 after purchasing an additional 836,571 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 2.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,237,384 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $577,998,000 after purchasing an additional 448,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 5.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 15,130,700 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $507,332,000 after purchasing an additional 831,125 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KMI shares. Argus upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Freedom Broker raised Kinder Morgan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $39.00 in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.15.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $29.98 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $32.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.12. The company has a market cap of $66.80 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.03 and a twelve month high of $34.81.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.02. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 10.84% and a net margin of 19.64%. The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Monday, November 2nd will be paid a $0.2975 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is 73.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, Chairman Richard Kinder purchased 500,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.99 per share, with a total value of $14,995,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman directly owned 246,712,353 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,398,903,466.47. This trade represents a 0.20% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Garthwaite sold 1,550 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.65, for a total transaction of $52,157.50. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 47,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,592,082.45. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 12.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan, Inc NYSE: KMI is an energy infrastructure company that transports and stores natural gas, crude oil, refined petroleum products and other energy-related commodities. Its assets include pipelines, terminals and storage facilities serving energy producers, utilities, industrial customers and other markets across the United States and Canada.

The company's operations include natural gas transportation and storage, refined-products and crude-oil pipelines, bulk and liquids terminals, and carbon dioxide transportation.

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