Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Trading 0.6% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) were up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $31.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $29.64 and last traded at $29.63. Approximately 3,218,517 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 11,230,540 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.44.

KMI has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.00.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director C Park Shaper sold 690,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total value of $17,081,014.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,809,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $168,543,985.50. This represents a 9.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,048,707.32. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 745,263 shares of company stock valued at $18,578,014. Insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of KMI. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 1.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 346,183 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,879,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 88,969 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,768,000 after buying an additional 2,356 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 11.0% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 24,103 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,385 shares during the period. One Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Kinder Morgan in the second quarter worth about $507,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.91. The company has a market capitalization of $66.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Kinder Morgan

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.