Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Rating Reiterated by Stifel Nicolaus

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a research report issued on Friday, July 14th. They currently have a $25.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target points to a potential upside of 23.76% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on KMI. Vetr cut Kinder Morgan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.88 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, March 17th. Macquarie assumed coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, April 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Credit Suisse Group set a $27.00 target price on Kinder Morgan and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.91.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE KMI) opened at 20.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.64. The company has a market cap of $45.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.67 and a beta of 0.64. Kinder Morgan has a 12-month low of $18.31 and a 12-month high of $23.36.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The pipeline company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 6.20%. The firm had revenue of $3.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan will post $0.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 19th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the pipeline company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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In other news, insider Richard D. Kinder acquired 500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.58 per share, with a total value of $9,290,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 234,712,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,360,955,518.74. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William A. Smith acquired 4,903 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 31st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.24 per share, for a total transaction of $99,236.72. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $295,240.88. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 507,503 shares of company stock worth $9,437,597 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.99% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KMI. First Bank & Trust increased 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 increased 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 increased 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. increased 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 increased 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. 57.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Kinder Morgan

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.