Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 9,120 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,808 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 9,120 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $3,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 16,886 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 3,408 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 3.7% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,397,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $87,386,000 after purchasing an additional 158,435 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 3.1% during the second quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 80,708 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 2,449 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,455,687 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,925,000 after purchasing an additional 49,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 13,415 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on KMI. Bank of America assumed coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Eight research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.75.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

KMI stock opened at $26.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $59.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.68. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.47 and a 1-year high of $28.81.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.28%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is currently 100.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.89 per share, with a total value of $55,778.49. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,995 shares in the company, valued at $597,235.55. The trade was a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total value of $492,120.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 879,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,049,685.68. This trade represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 727,263 shares of company stock valued at $18,075,634. Company insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Company 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.