Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 58.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,844 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 33,326 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,550,002 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $233,050,000 after purchasing an additional 69,307 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $180,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,485,834 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $163,116,000 after purchasing an additional 164,152 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,591,311 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $101,422,000 after purchasing an additional 29,861 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 30.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,007,857 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $88,534,000 after purchasing an additional 932,469 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

KMI traded down $0.21 on Friday, reaching $26.38. The company had a trading volume of 8,853,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,493,461. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.26. The company has a market cap of $58.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.49. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.02 and a 52-week high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total transaction of $492,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 879,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,049,685.68. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,504,136. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KMI. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.14.

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.