Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $92.68 Million Stock Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group reduced its stake in Kinder Morgan by 23.4% in Q4, now holding 3,371,296 shares valued at about $92.68 million.
• Kinder Morgan beat Q1 estimates with $0.48 EPS vs. $0.38 expected and revenue up 13.8% YoY; it set FY2026 guidance at 1.36 EPS and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.2975 (annualized $1.19, ~3.8% yield).
• Analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $34.20 target; institutional investors own ~62.5% of shares (Vanguard ≈210.3M shares), while insiders sold ~29,598 shares in the past 90 days.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 23.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,371,296 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 1,032,284 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.15% of Kinder Morgan worth $92,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 431.9% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,569,082 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $185,971,000 after buying an additional 5,333,986 shares during the period. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 2nd quarter valued at $138,477,000. Zimmer Partners LP grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 177.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 6,070,100 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $171,845,000 after acquiring an additional 3,885,000 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,662,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 210,281,448 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,780,637,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165,130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael P. Garthwaite sold 1,550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.72, for a total value of $49,166.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 44,843 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,422,419.96. This represents a 3.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Anthony B. Ashley sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $255,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 100,146 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,199,664.70. This represents a 7.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 29,598 shares of company stock valued at $966,877 in the last ninety days. 12.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Kinder Morgan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.20.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI opened at $31.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $70.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.70. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a one year low of $25.60 and a one year high of $34.73.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.10. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 18.92% and a return on equity of 9.90%. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.360-1.360 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be given a dividend of $0.2975 per share. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 4th. This is a boost from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.87%.

Kinder Morgan Profile

Kinder Morgan NYSE: KMI is a large energy infrastructure company that owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines and terminals across North America. Its core activities center on the transportation, storage and handling of energy products, including natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined petroleum products and carbon dioxide. The company's assets include long-haul and gathering pipelines, storage facilities, and multi-modal terminals that serve producers, refiners, utilities and industrial customers.

Kinder Morgan's operations deliver midstream services such as pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage and related logistics and maintenance.

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