First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Lowers Stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lessened its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 12.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 493,519 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 70,928 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $14,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 303,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,303,000 after buying an additional 15,114 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,265,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $62,062,000 after acquiring an additional 44,474 shares in the last quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth $385,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at $21,774,000. Finally, Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at $377,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.75, for a total transaction of $517,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 807,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,219,995. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,522,440 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.21.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of KMI stock opened at $28.15 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.47 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.45. The stock has a market cap of $62.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.34. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.2925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. This is an increase from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is currently 100.86%.

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.