Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $33.24 and last traded at $32.7070, with a volume of 10039794 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.73.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Freedom Capital raised shares of Kinder Morgan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.38.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.1%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $4.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 85.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 139,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,182,840. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.09, for a total value of $185,534.94. Following the sale, the vice president owned 195,038 shares in the company, valued at $5,868,693.42. The trade was a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,498 shares of company stock valued at $1,382,115. Insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,132,125,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 431.9% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,569,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $185,971,000 after purchasing an additional 5,333,986 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the second quarter valued at $138,477,000. Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 177.8% in the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 6,070,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $171,845,000 after buying an additional 3,885,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 59 North Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 54.5% in the second quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 10,597,380 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $311,563,000 after buying an additional 3,739,398 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) is a large energy infrastructure company that owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines and terminals across North America. Its core activities center on the transportation, storage and handling of energy products, including natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined petroleum products and carbon dioxide. The company’s assets include long-haul and gathering pipelines, storage facilities, and multi-modal terminals that serve producers, refiners, utilities and industrial customers.

Kinder Morgan’s operations deliver midstream services such as pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage and related logistics and maintenance.