Short Interest in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Drops By 5.8%

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 40,290,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the October 31st total of 42,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,780,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,235.55. This trade represents a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director C Park Shaper sold 690,142 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $17,081,014.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,809,858 shares in the company, valued at $168,543,985.50. This trade represents a 9.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,591,311 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $101,422,000 after acquiring an additional 29,861 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.5% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 22,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,291,704 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,624,000 after purchasing an additional 71,984 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 6.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 393,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,689,000 after purchasing an additional 25,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1,512.7% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 88,583 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,956,000 after purchasing an additional 83,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 2.9 %

KMI opened at $27.44 on Tuesday. Kinder Morgan has a fifty-two week low of $16.47 and a fifty-two week high of $28.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $60.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.20 and a 200-day moving average of $22.15.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 100.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on KMI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.67.

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.