VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Buys New Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 5,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of KMI. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 172,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,819,000 after buying an additional 22,776 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 49.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 631,901 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $13,959,000 after buying an additional 208,981 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 17.7% during the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 23,410 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $517,000 after acquiring an additional 3,524 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 48,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 3,675 shares during the period. Finally, New England Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 169,290 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,740,000 after purchasing an additional 4,810 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KMI. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.64.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $498,600.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,369,160.40. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. The trade was a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996 over the last three months. 12.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMI opened at $27.51 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.39. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.61 and a 1 year high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. As a group, research analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.29%.

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.