Freedom Investment Management Inc. Invests $207,000 in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,388 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 143.6% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 401.8% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.7 %

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $28.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.15. The company has a market capitalization of $62.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.80, a PEG ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.91. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a one year low of $16.47 and a one year high of $28.81.

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

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were acquired 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 in the company, valued at approximately $597,235.55. The trade was a 10.30 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total value of $502,499.88. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 897,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,590,294.56. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 price target on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.