Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $27.00 to $30.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

KMI has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 price objective on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.25.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Kinder Morgan stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.99. 3,666,193 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,727,044. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.74 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $26.34 and its 200-day moving average is $22.83. Kinder Morgan has a 12-month low of $16.47 and a 12-month high of $28.81.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. Kinder Morgan’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kinder Morgan will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.88%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director Amy W. Chronis bought 2,241 shares of the business’s 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 acquisition, the director now owns 23,995 shares in the company, valued at $597,235.55. This trade represents a 10.30 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total transaction of $492,120.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 879,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,049,685.68. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 727,263 shares of company stock valued at $18,075,634. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,904,252 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $335,891,000 after acquiring an additional 257,658 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,550,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $233,050,000 after purchasing an additional 69,307 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 8,198,954 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $162,913,000 after purchasing an additional 163,294 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,770,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $154,409,000 after buying an additional 1,328,082 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.