Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 138,512 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $3,795,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $917,523,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $157,804,000. Blackstone Inc. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 435.0% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $119,416,000 after acquiring an additional 3,543,670 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,729,000. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,819,777 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $334,381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,650,040 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan 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 sale, the president now owns 789,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,770,705.64. This trade represents a 2.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,503,776. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on KMI shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $29.79.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.3%

KMI traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.09. The company had a trading volume of 12,398,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,973,578. The stock has a market cap of $62.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.26. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.83 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. This is an increase from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.