Morgan Stanley Upgrades Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) to Equal Weight

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $24.00 target price on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on KMI. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kinder Morgan from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays upped their target price on Kinder Morgan from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Argus raised Kinder Morgan from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $22.55.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of Kinder Morgan stock opened at $21.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.68. Kinder Morgan has a one year low of $15.89 and a one year high of $21.86.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 15.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $2,101,000.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 916,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,261,400.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 100,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $2,101,000.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 916,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,261,400.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $36,309.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 307,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,455,589. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,311 shares of company stock valued at $3,121,891 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 3,655.3% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the second quarter worth $30,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth $30,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth $31,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.