Lafayette Investments Inc. Buys Shares of 7,320 Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Lafayette Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,846,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,557,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469,759 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,759,844 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,414,813,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252,609 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $917,523,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,734,753 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $376,332,000 after buying an additional 1,093,242 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 11,819,777 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $334,381,000 after buying an additional 2,650,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI stock opened at $26.80 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.93 and a 200 day moving average of $26.84. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.61 and a 1 year high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.72.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. As a group, research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.64.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This represents a 25.48 % 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 this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total value of $478,980.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 825,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,970,599.72. The trade was a 2.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,506,116 over the last 90 days. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.