Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $33.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $27.68 and last traded at $27.63, with a volume of 2369246 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.27.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 price target on Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “conviction-buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have 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 $25.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.89 per share, with a total value of $55,778.49. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 at the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the president now owns 897,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,590,294.56. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the first quarter valued at $30,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 143.6% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the second quarter worth about $31,000. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $61.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.50.

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

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 100.88%.

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.