Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Has $2.27 Million Stock Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 27.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 22,086 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $2,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KMI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,888,911 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,665,963,000 after buying an additional 27,254,172 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 108.2% during the 1st quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 7,799,826 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $143,049,000 after buying an additional 4,053,793 shares during the period. Duquesne Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 74.0% during the 2nd quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 6,753,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $134,185,000 after buying an additional 2,872,665 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 11,130,639 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $204,319,000 after buying an additional 2,125,648 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1,849.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,164,637 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $47,817,000 after buying an additional 2,053,612 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total transaction of $502,499.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 897,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,590,294.56. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,241 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.89 per share, with a total value of $55,778.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $597,235.55. The trade was a 10.30 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Kinder Morgan stock traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $27.27. 12,426,307 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,872,368. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.47 and a twelve month high of $27.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $23.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.91.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.76%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is presently 100.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.36.

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.