Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Shares Up 0.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)’s stock price rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $31.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $29.64 and last traded at $29.63. Approximately 3,218,517 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 11,230,540 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.44.

KMI has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 target price on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.00.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,048,707.32. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis bought 2,241 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.89 per share, with a total value of $55,778.49. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,235.55. This represents a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 745,263 shares of company stock valued at $18,578,014 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 10,503 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 9,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 5,182 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 90,560 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,000,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SignalPoint Asset Management LLC increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 30,059 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $66.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan’s revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

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.