Dec 8, 2015

Kinder Morgan is under siege. Shares of the energy pipeline giant, whose shares show up in many portfolios seeking dividends, were slammed in heavy trading last week, falling $7, or 29%, to $16.82 and fell another 2% on Monday, amid growing concerns that the Houston-based company may have to cut its quarterly dividend, now 51 cents, to shore up its leveraged balance sheet. Kinder Morgan stock (symbol KMI) is down 60% this year while the Alerian MLP index is off a painful 42%.

Citigroup analyst Faisel Khan put out a note this week titled “Debt Rating at Risk, Dividend Cut Possible Amid Limited Options.” He wrote that the company needs to cut debt to maintain its investment-grade debt rating: “The most expeditious way of achieving this would be to reduce the dividend by around 40%, allowing the firm to retain about $1.9 billion per year, rather than paying out so much revenue in dividends. Steve and Sinclair review a Barrons report.

In the Q & A segment, real estate attorney Stephanie Wilson, partner in the law firm Stoops, Denious, Wilson, and Murray joins the A-Team to review what can go wrong when buying or selling investment properties run by Home Owners Associations with too many investors rather than residents.