Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.21.

Several brokerages have issued reports on KMI. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays raised Kinder Morgan from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.75, for a total value of $517,500.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 807,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,219,995. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,522,440. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KMI. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at about $308,000. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 16,420 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 23,729 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $650,000 after acquiring an additional 916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 179,054 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,906,000 after acquiring an additional 8,273 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of KMI opened at $28.01 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.45. Kinder Morgan has a 52-week low of $19.47 and a 52-week high of $31.48. The company has a market cap of $62.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 16.67%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Analysts predict that Kinder Morgan 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. This is a boost from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is presently 100.86%.

About Kinder Morgan

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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