Canal Insurance CO Lowers Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Canal Insurance CO reduced its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 33.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 101,000 shares during the period. Kinder Morgan accounts for 1.4% of Canal Insurance CO’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Canal Insurance CO’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $5,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after buying an additional 2,334,273 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 295.5% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,937,055 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,879,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,489 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1,849.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,164,637 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $47,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,053,612 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 295.2% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,683,356 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $37,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,428 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,007,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $88,534,000 after purchasing an additional 932,469 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.23.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

NYSE:KMI opened at $27.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.03 and its 200 day moving average is $24.50. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.47 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 17.31%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is 98.29%.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In related news, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,235.55. This represents a 10.30 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total value of $492,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 879,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,049,685.68. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,121 shares of company stock worth $1,497,000. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.