Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Shares Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was up 1% during trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $31.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $30.31 and last traded at $30.35. Approximately 4,625,084 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 12,224,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.06.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on KMI. Scotiabank began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Bank of America began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 $597,235.55. This represents a 10.30 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total value of $502,499.88. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 897,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,590,294.56. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 745,263 shares of company stock worth $18,578,014. 12.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,550,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $233,050,000 after purchasing an additional 69,307 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $180,833,000 after buying an additional 2,334,273 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 20.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,770,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $154,409,000 after buying an additional 1,328,082 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,485,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $163,116,000 after acquiring an additional 164,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duquesne Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 74.0% during the 2nd quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 6,753,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $134,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,872,665 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.9 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.68 and a 200-day moving average of $24.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.76%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

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.