Hardy Reed LLC Raises Stock Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Hardy Reed LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,097 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,227 shares during the quarter. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $797,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMI. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,591,311 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $101,422,000 after buying an additional 29,861 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 3.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,291,704 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,624,000 after buying an additional 71,984 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2,507.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 15,800 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after buying an additional 2,334,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 116.1% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 210,645 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,772,000 after buying an additional 113,173 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This represents a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,048,707.32. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,504,136. Insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of KMI opened at $26.84 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.00 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.25. The company has a market cap of $59.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.94. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on KMI shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.14.

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.