Royal Bank of Canada Sells 1,026,645 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,226,736 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 1,026,645 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.37% of Kinder Morgan worth $225,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CX Institutional raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 15,661 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 26,083 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 15,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 4,946 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 86,430 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.75, for a total transaction of $517,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 807,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,219,995. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,492,740. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

NYSE:KMI traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.47. 11,806,722 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,961,743. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $27.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.83 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.49.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.34. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.02 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.2925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This is an increase from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.86%.

Kinder Morgan 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.