Probity Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Probity Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,640 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,128 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 303,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,303,000 after purchasing an additional 15,114 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2,507.9% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 15,800 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,265,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $62,062,000 after acquiring an additional 44,474 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 86.3% in the 4th quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 23,716 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $650,000 after acquiring an additional 10,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth about $385,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.75, for a total value of $517,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 807,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,219,995. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock worth $1,492,740 in the last quarter. 12.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.79.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:KMI opened at $27.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $61.95 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a one year low of $18.83 and a one year high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.21 and a 200-day moving average of $27.41.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.2925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. This is a positive change from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.86%.

About Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan, Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in North America. The company operates through Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, Terminals, and CO2 segments. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment owns and operates interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline, and storage systems; natural gas gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities; natural gas liquids fractionation facilities and transportation systems; and liquefied natural gas gasification, liquefaction, and storage facilities.