Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,524,335 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 9,262 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $41,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 143.6% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on KMI shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.14.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,493,100 over the last three months. 12.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Kinder Morgan stock opened at $26.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $59.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.51 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.06.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.