Fruth Investment Management Decreases Stock Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Fruth Investment Management cut its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,037 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 393,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,689,000 after purchasing an additional 25,406 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 34.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 27,260 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 6,932 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the third quarter worth $467,000. Ignite Planners LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 64,838 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,080 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $502,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 12.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.14.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMI opened at $27.64 on Thursday. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.63, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.47 and a 52 week high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its earnings results 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%. Analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.