Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Raised to “Buy” at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $24.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on KMI. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Kinder Morgan to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Kinder Morgan from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial reissued a hold rating and issued a $20.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $21.86.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

NYSE KMI opened at $21.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $19.77 and its 200-day moving average is $18.50. Kinder Morgan has a 12-month low of $15.89 and a 12-month high of $21.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $47.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.93.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.57 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.35%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Dax Sanders sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.75, for a total value of $987,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 259,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,116,612.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 65,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after buying an additional 7,912 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at $2,101,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 1st quarter valued at $8,818,000. Duality Advisers LP raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 317,425 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,822,000 after purchasing an additional 94,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 221.3% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 251,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,615,000 after purchasing an additional 173,313 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.