EP Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI – Get Rating) by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,998 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,652 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the third quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter valued at $29,000. TD Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 40.7% in the second quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 2,054 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 109.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,155 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KMI shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 9th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, December 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.55.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

KMI opened at $16.28 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.60 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.95. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.77 and a twelve month high of $20.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

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

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 30th. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is currently 99.11%.

Kinder Morgan declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the pipeline company to buy up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.18, for a total transaction of $27,270.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $385,761.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.18, for a total value of $27,270.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $385,761.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Anthony B. Ashley sold 13,232 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.14, for a total transaction of $240,028.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 27,826 shares in the company, valued at $504,763.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,232 shares of company stock valued at $294,958 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 14.22% of the company’s stock.

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.