Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Short Interest Up 7.4% in August

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 43,450,000 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the August 15th total of 40,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 14,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $36,309.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 307,409 shares in the company, valued at $6,455,589. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $36,309.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 307,409 shares in the company, valued at $6,455,589. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total value of $2,101,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 916,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,261,400.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,311 shares of company stock worth $3,121,891. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3,655.3% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:KMI opened at $21.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.63. Kinder Morgan has a 52 week low of $15.89 and a 52 week high of $21.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $47.83 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The business had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.34%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KMI shares. Morgan Stanley raised Kinder Morgan from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Nine investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.55.

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.