Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.90.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KMI. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Kinder Morgan from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Raymond James Financial, Inc. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Saturday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Group LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, July 20th.

In other news, insider Richard D. Kinder bought 500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 30th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Dax Sanders bought 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 30th. The stock was purchased 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 acquired 507,503 shares of company stock valued at $9,437,597 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.99% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 4.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 138,904,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,019,777,000 after buying an additional 6,222,962 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 8.2% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,672,731 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $645,086,000 after buying an additional 2,258,597 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 7.7% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,346,909 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $398,283,000 after buying an additional 1,309,520 shares during the period. Atlantic Trust Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 6.3% in the first quarter. Atlantic Trust Group LLC now owns 11,337,726 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $246,482,000 after buying an additional 672,731 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,677,335 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $204,577,000 after buying an additional 403,448 shares during the period. 57.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Shares of Kinder Morgan (NYSE KMI) traded down 0.15% during trading on Tuesday, hitting $20.20. 6,071,995 shares of the stock traded hands. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.64. The firm has a market cap of $45.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.16 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The pipeline company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 6.20% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan will post $0.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 27th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 161.29%.

Kinder Morgan declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 19th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the pipeline company to purchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.