Welch & Forbes LLC Purchases Shares of 12,202 Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Welch & Forbes LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,202 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 927.1% during the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 873 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the period. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on KMI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price 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 raised their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.00.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of KMI traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.89. 18,792,404 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,821,146. The company has a market cap of $61.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.75. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.68 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock's 50-day moving average is $28.00 and its 200-day moving average is $27.60.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.28. The company had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.06% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The firm's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is presently 95.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total value of $508,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 771,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,806,885.52. This trade represents a 2.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.