Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $28.82 and last traded at $28.48, with a volume of 1298786 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $28.29.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on KMI shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 price target on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.67.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $27.23 and its 200-day moving average is $23.68. The company has a market cap of $62.85 billion, a PE ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.76%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.88%.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In related news, Director C Park Shaper sold 690,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $17,081,014.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,809,858 shares in the company, valued at $168,543,985.50. The trade was a 9.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,048,707.32. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 745,263 shares of company stock worth $18,578,014 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KMI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,904,252 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $335,891,000 after acquiring an additional 257,658 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,550,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $233,050,000 after buying an additional 69,307 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $180,833,000 after buying an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,770,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $154,409,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328,082 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,485,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $163,116,000 after acquiring an additional 164,152 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.