Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Raises Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 875,414 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 8,353 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $23,986,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 5.2% in 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 during the period. Golden State Equity Partners raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 2,507.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 15,800 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,265,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $62,062,000 after purchasing an additional 44,474 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 86.3% in the fourth quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 23,716 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 10,987 shares during the period. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at about $385,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 2.0%

NYSE:KMI opened at $27.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $61.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.49.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. Sell-side analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.2925 dividend. This is an increase from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 100.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total value of $478,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 825,652 shares in the company, valued at $21,970,599.72. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock worth $1,492,740 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on KMI shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on 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 Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.79.

Kinder Morgan Profile

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.