Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Stock

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report report published on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on KMI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.92.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $30.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Kinder Morgan has a one year low of $16.47 and a one year high of $31.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $28.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.16 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 17.31%. As a group, analysts predict that Kinder Morgan will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 98.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total transaction of $502,499.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 897,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,590,294.56. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the purchase, the director now owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,235.55. The trade was a 10.30 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,121 shares of company stock valued at $1,497,000. Insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 143.6% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Company 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.