Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 144,474 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 5.0%, acquiring an additional 144,474 shares, making a total of 3,037,250 shares worth approximately $86.6 million.
• Kinder Morgan recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.28 and revenue of $4.04 billion, exceeding consensus estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2925 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 4.4%, with a high dividend payout ratio of 95.90%.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,037,250 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 144,474 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.14% of Kinder Morgan worth $86,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 0.6% in 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 lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 8.3% in 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. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 37.5% in 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 lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.0% in 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 lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 5.4% in 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. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on KMI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Cowen began coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $31.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,759 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.21 per share, for a total transaction of $75,072.39. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $945,928.44. The trade was a 8.62% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $171,414.80. Following the sale, the vice president owned 232,034 shares in the company, valued at $6,450,545.20. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,842 shares of company stock valued at $3,896,180 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

KMI traded down $0.16 on Friday, reaching $26.69. The company had a trading volume of 13,657,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,484,992. The company's fifty day moving average is $27.74 and its 200 day moving average is $27.37. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.56 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The stock has a market cap of $59.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given 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 was Thursday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is presently 95.90%.

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.