Aurora Investment Counsel Grows Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 686 shares during the period. Kinder Morgan makes up approximately 1.3% of Aurora Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $2,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 186.8% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 47,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $868,000 after buying an additional 30,899 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 41.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,084 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the first quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Natixis grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 31.8% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 268,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,925,000 after purchasing an additional 64,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 792.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 233,781 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,288,000 after buying an additional 207,592 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,235.55. The trade was a 10.30 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total value of $502,499.88. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 897,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,590,294.56. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on KMI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 price objective on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “conviction-buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.36.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:KMI opened at $28.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.68. The company has a market capitalization of $62.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.91. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.47 and a twelve month high of $28.27.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.88%.

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.