Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) will raise its quarterly dividend by 5.0 percent to $0.2625 per share in 2020. This follows a 25.0 percent increase last year by KMI and marks the third consecutive year of higher payments.

The next dividend is payable on May 15, 2020, to common stockholders of record as of the close of business on May 4, 2020. A new annual rate of $1.05 per share yields 7.4% at a stock price of $14.10.

“The board deliberated thoughtfully with regard to this quarter’s dividend,” said KMI Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder in the company's press release today announcing this increase. “While we have the financial wherewithal to pay our previously planned dividend increase, with significant coverage, in unprecedented times such as these, the wise choice is to preserve flexibility and balance sheet capacity. Consequently, we are not increasing the dividend to the $1.25 annualized that we projected, under far different circumstances, in July of 2017. Nevertheless, as a sign of our confidence in the strength of our business and the security of our cash flows, we are increasing the dividend to $1.05 annualized, a five percent increase. In doing so, we believe we have struck the proper balance between maintaining balance sheet strength and returning value to our shareholders. We remain committed to increasing the dividend to $1.25 annualized. Assuming a return to normal economic activity, we would expect to make that determination when the board meets in January 2021 to determine the dividend for the fourth quarter of 2020.”

Kinder Morgan, Inc. is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. It owns an interest in or operates approximately 85,000 miles of pipelines and 152 terminals. KMI’s pipelines transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, condensate, CO(2) and other products, and its terminals transload and store petroleum products, ethanol and chemicals, and handle such products as steel, coal and petroleum coke. It is also a leading producer of CO(2) that we and others use for enhanced oil recovery projects primarily in the Permian basin.