Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Shares Up 0% - Should You Buy?

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) shares traded up 0% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.48 and last traded at $26.29. 2,970,203 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 15,733,285 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.14.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $59.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.12.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is currently 98.29%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total transaction of $492,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 879,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,049,685.68. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,493,100 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,591,311 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $101,422,000 after purchasing an additional 29,861 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.5% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 22,813 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,291,704 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $50,624,000 after purchasing an additional 71,984 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2,507.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,430 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 15,800 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $180,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.