5,759,271 Shares in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Acquired by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,759,271 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,804,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,591,311 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $101,422,000 after purchasing an additional 29,861 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 3.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,291,704 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,624,000 after purchasing an additional 71,984 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 2,507.9% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 15,800 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $180,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 116.1% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 210,645 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,772,000 after purchasing an additional 113,173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $498,600.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,369,160.40. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $26.14 on Friday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.45 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The company has a market capitalization of $58.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $27.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.68.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.64.

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.