Investors Buy Large Volume of Kinder Morgan Call Options (NYSE:KMI)

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 33,047 call options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseofapproximately90% compared to the typical volume of 17,407 call options.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 0.6%

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $26.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.74 and a 200-day moving average of $27.37. Kinder Morgan has a one year low of $20.56 and a one year high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $59.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.78.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.06% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The company had revenue of $4.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.90%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director Amy W. Chronis bought 2,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $27.21 per share, for a total transaction of $75,072.39. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $945,928.44. The trade was a 8.62% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total transaction of $1,127,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 159,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,494,275.32. This represents a 20.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 139,842 shares of company stock worth $3,896,180. 12.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at about $308,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 19,054 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 83,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after purchasing an additional 16,754 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 27,599 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,568,000. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on KMI shares. Cowen started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.20.

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.