Power Corp of Canada Acquires Shares of 16,380 Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Power Corp of Canada acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI – Get Rating) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 16,380 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 6.9% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 176,745,605 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,941,047,000 after buying an additional 11,465,781 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 143,044,363 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,380,258,000 after purchasing an additional 3,253,951 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,792,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $544,462,000 after purchasing an additional 988,042 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.0% in the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,150,578 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $354,485,000 after purchasing an additional 420,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 4.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 19,868,735 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $333,001,000 after purchasing an additional 764,687 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.48% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $16.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.97. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.77 and a fifty-two week high of $20.20. The company has a market cap of $37.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.95.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 18th. The pipeline company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 13.27%. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 18th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the pipeline company to reacquire up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 30th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 99.11%.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Anthony B. Ashley sold 13,232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.14, for a total transaction of $240,028.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 27,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $504,763.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 1,500 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $27,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 19,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $363,618.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Anthony B. Ashley sold 13,232 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.14, for a total value of $240,028.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 27,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $504,763.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,232 shares of company stock worth $294,958. 12.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KMI shares. Scotiabank started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday, December 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Kinder Morgan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.55.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

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Kinder Morgan, Inc engages in providing pipeline transportation of natural gas services. It operates through the following business segments: Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, Terminals, and CO2. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment operates major interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines and storage systems.