7,320 Shares in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Bought by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $917,523,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $157,804,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth $87,729,000. Amundi raised its position 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 valued at $334,381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,650,040 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 223.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,465,980 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $94,968,000 after buying an additional 2,395,930 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented 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 target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.64.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:KMI opened at $26.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $59.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.72. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.61 and a 12 month high of $31.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.84.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $498,600.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,369,160.40. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,506,116. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.