Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) Earns Hold Rating from Jefferies Group LLC

Jefferies Group LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. They currently have a $20.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial, Inc. restated a strong-buy rating and set a $23.00 target price (down from $27.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. TD Securities set a $26.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an outperform rating and set a $25.00 target price (down from $26.50) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $24.03.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) traded up 0.63% during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $20.69. 17,070,830 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.73. The stock has a market cap of $46.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.06 and a beta of 0.63. Kinder Morgan has a 1-year low of $18.31 and a 1-year high of $23.36.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The pipeline company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 6.20% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The business had revenue of $3.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan will post $0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the pipeline company to purchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 27th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 161.29%.

In other Kinder Morgan news, insider Richard D. Kinder bought 500,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $18.58 per share, with a total value of $9,290,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 234,712,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,360,955,518.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Dax Sanders bought 2,600 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.60 per share, with a total value of $48,360.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 13.99% of the company’s stock.

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 9.4% in the first quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 4,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 71.5% in the first quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 6,522 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 2,719 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.8% in the first quarter. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America now owns 7,416 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 20.6% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 7,959 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 770.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 7,127 shares during the last quarter. 57.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

Kinder Morgan, Inc is an energy infrastructure company. It operates through five segments. Its Natural Gas Pipelines segment is engaged in the ownership and operation of interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline and storage systems, and liquefied natural gas facilities, among others. Its CO2 segment is engaged in the production, transportation and marketing of carbon dioxide (CO2) to oil fields and the ownership and operation of a crude oil pipeline system, among others.