Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Raises Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 174.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 913,539 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 581,065 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $25,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KMI. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 431.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,569,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $185,971,000 after purchasing an additional 5,333,986 shares during the period. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the second quarter valued at $138,477,000. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 177.8% during the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 6,070,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $171,845,000 after purchasing an additional 3,885,000 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the third quarter valued at $77,662,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 210,281,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,780,637,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165,130 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, VP Michael P. Garthwaite sold 1,550 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.65, for a total transaction of $52,157.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 43,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,809.45. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.41, for a total value of $199,840.06. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 176,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,721,661.40. This represents a 3.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 23,148 shares of company stock valued at $763,434 in the last three months. 12.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

NYSE:KMI opened at $34.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.60 and a 52-week high of $34.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.75 and a 200 day moving average of $30.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.55 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 9.90% and a net margin of 18.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.360-1.360 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $0.2975 per share. This is a positive change from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is 79.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Freedom Capital raised Kinder Morgan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings raised Kinder Morgan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.20.

About Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) is a large energy infrastructure company that owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines and terminals across North America. Its core activities center on the transportation, storage and handling of energy products, including natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined petroleum products and carbon dioxide. The company’s assets include long-haul and gathering pipelines, storage facilities, and multi-modal terminals that serve producers, refiners, utilities and industrial customers.

Kinder Morgan’s operations deliver midstream services such as pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage and related logistics and maintenance.