Norges Bank Takes Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 33,486,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $917,523,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.51% of Kinder Morgan as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 178.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,098 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on KMI shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of 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 lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.64.

Insider Activity

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total value of $498,600.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,369,160.40. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value 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 represents 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 worth $3,490,996. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

KMI opened at $28.24 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $27.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.29. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.61 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The firm has a market cap of $62.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.29%.

Kinder Morgan 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.