Essex LLC Sells 2,780 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Essex LLC trimmed its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 38,791 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,780 shares during the period. Essex LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,363,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $37,366,000 after purchasing an additional 176,618 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 183,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,041,000 after buying an additional 39,695 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 141,216 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,869,000 after acquiring an additional 12,072 shares during the period. Finally, Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 733,767 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock worth $1,493,100 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:KMI opened at $27.07 on Friday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.91. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.47 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.14.

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.