Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 329,752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,775 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $9,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Kinder Morgan by 178.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,098 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total value of $478,980.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 825,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,970,599.72. The trade was a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMI opened at $26.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.45 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.73 and a 200 day moving average of $25.65.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.29%.

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.