Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Sells 1,640 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lessened its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,489 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,640 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMI. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 21.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 282,404 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,682,000 after buying an additional 49,395 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 12,953 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,910 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,414,889 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,959,000 after purchasing an additional 55,820 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 48.9% in the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 41,791 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 13,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other news, VP Dax Sanders sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.75, for a total value of $987,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 259,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,116,612.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

KMI traded down $0.46 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.16. 13,320,778 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,113,382. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $46.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.55. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.89 and a 1 year high of $21.86.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.13 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

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.