Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys 715 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 143.6% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease 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 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total transaction of $492,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 879,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,049,685.68. This trade represents a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,504,136. Company insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of Kinder Morgan stock opened at $26.47 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.40. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.02 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. Analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.29%.

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.