Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,985 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,550 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $1,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 3,655.3% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the first quarter worth about $31,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 92.5% during the second quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on KMI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $22.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.55.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $36,309.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 307,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,455,589. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $36,309.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 307,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,455,589. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sital K. Mody sold 21,413 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total transaction of $455,026.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $534,841.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,311 shares of company stock valued at $3,121,891 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $21.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.68. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.89 and a fifty-two week high of $21.86.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.13 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 7.89%. Kinder Morgan’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. Analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.55%.

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.