Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 22,086 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,086 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $2,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KMI. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 1.5% during the third quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 30,059 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 33,586 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $742,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,150 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 3.4% in the third quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 15,901 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.3% during the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 165,827 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,295,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,241 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.89 per share, with a total value of $55,778.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,235.55. This trade represents a 10.30 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director C Park Shaper sold 690,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total value of $17,081,014.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,809,858 shares in the company, valued at $168,543,985.50. This trade represents a 9.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI stock opened at $27.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.84 and a 200-day moving average of $21.46. The stock has a market cap of $60.58 billion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.91. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a one year low of $16.47 and a one year high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 EPS 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 business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $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 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on KMI. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “conviction-buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.36.

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.