Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Stock Price Up 0.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was up 0.4% during trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $25.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $20.91 and last traded at $20.91. Approximately 1,603,829 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 13,790,627 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.83.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on KMI. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Argus upgraded Kinder Morgan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $36,309.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 307,409 shares in the company, valued at $6,455,589. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $2,101,000.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 916,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,261,400.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $36,309.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 307,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,455,589. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,311 shares of company stock worth $3,121,891 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 65,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 7,912 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the first quarter valued at $8,818,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth about $2,101,000. Duality Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 42.7% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 317,425 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,822,000 after purchasing an additional 94,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 221.3% during the first 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $46.39 billion, a PE ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.93.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.13 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.50%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.55%.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

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.