Short Interest in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Expands By 7.4%

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

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

KMI stock opened at $21.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $47.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.37. Kinder Morgan has a 1 year low of $15.89 and a 1 year high of $21.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.63.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Kinder Morgan will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMI shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded Kinder Morgan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Nine research 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 data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.55.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,888,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,665,963,000 after buying an additional 27,254,172 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at $409,063,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,904,252 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $335,891,000 after acquiring an additional 257,658 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 11,130,639 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $204,319,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 10,717,452 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $196,558,000 after purchasing an additional 272,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

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.