Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Stock Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,093,552 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 276,912 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $29,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KMI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,846,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,557,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,759 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 8.6% during the 4th 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. Amundi increased 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 buying an additional 2,650,040 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $180,833,000 after buying an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,485,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $163,116,000 after acquiring an additional 164,152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of KMI stock opened at $28.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $63.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $27.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.39. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.61 and a 1-year high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.99%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 98.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on KMI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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. Scotiabank assumed 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 lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 861,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. The trade was a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996. Company insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

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.