Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 34,416 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,618,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,416 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.21% of Kinder Morgan worth $131,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $308,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,099 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,469,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $4,176,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,098,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 74.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,916 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $628,000 after purchasing an additional 9,780 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $32.00 price target (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.29.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $28.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $64.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.48. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.47 and a 1 year high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.02 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 16.67%. Research analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. This is a boost from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is 100.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.57, for a total value of $496,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 789,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,770,705.64. This represents a 2.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 54,000 shares of company stock worth $1,522,440 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

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.

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