Lathrop Investment Management Corp Purchases 21,715 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Lathrop Investment Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 696,583 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,715 shares during the period. Kinder Morgan makes up about 2.9% of Lathrop Investment Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Lathrop Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $15,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter worth $28,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth about $30,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 143.6% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on KMI. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “conviction-buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.36.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

KMI opened at $28.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.73. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.47 and a 52-week high of $28.67.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. Kinder Morgan’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 100.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director C Park Shaper sold 690,142 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $17,081,014.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,809,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $168,543,985.50. The trade was a 9.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total transaction of $502,499.88. Following the sale, the president now owns 897,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,590,294.56. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by 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.