Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 19,355 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,403,580 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,355 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Kinder Morgan worth $124,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 14.5% during the second quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 2,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 10,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the third quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 17,131 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 15,439 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on KMI shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.49, for a total transaction of $169,503.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 201,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,531,097.96. This trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 owned 139,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,182,840. The trade was a 12.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,498 shares of company stock valued at $1,107,462. 12.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $29.61 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.94 and a 1 year high of $30.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.30. The stock has a market cap of $65.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.70.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 9.02%. Kinder Morgan’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be issued a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 85.40%.

Kinder Morgan 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.