Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Shares Up 3.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) traded up 3.2% during trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $28.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $28.21 and last traded at $28.17. 4,772,515 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 16,059,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.30.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.14.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total value of $492,120.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 879,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,049,685.68. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.89 per share, with a total value of $55,778.49. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 55,121 shares of company stock valued at $1,497,000. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 457,238 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,040,000 after buying an additional 45,917 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 391,908 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,787,000 after acquiring an additional 55,207 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,428,295 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,380,000 after buying an additional 8,078 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,597,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 2.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.62. The company has a market cap of $62.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 17.31%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 98.29%.

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.