Blankinship & Foster LLC Trims Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Blankinship & Foster LLC trimmed its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 68.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,987 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 31,913 shares during the quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $157,804,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $180,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,534,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 295.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,937,055 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,879,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,489 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,573,495 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634,631 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on KMI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.64.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of KMI opened at $26.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $58.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.71 and a 200 day moving average of $25.68. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.45 and a 52-week high of $31.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 98.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total value of $478,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 825,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,970,599.72. The trade was a 2.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,490,996 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan 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.