Advisors Capital Management LLC Sells 34,533 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Advisors Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,730,231 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 34,533 shares during the quarter. Kinder Morgan comprises approximately 1.2% of Advisors Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Advisors Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Kinder Morgan worth $74,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KMI. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised Kinder Morgan from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $29.64.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

KMI stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.09. The company had a trading volume of 22,873,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,008,772. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a one year low of $17.95 and a one year high of $31.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.72. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $26.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.88.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. Research analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This is a positive change from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.14%.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $498,600.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 843,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,369,160.40. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,506,116 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

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.