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

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 29,046 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 81% compared to the average daily volume of 16,031 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wolfe Research raised Kinder Morgan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.06.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

KMI stock opened at $27.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.41. Kinder Morgan has a 12-month low of $21.61 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The firm has a market cap of $62.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.28. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.06% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.270-1.270 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 95.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 159,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,494,275.32. This trade represents a 20.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $166,482.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 225,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,098,436. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 128,008 shares of company stock valued at $3,553,982. 12.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KMI. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth $308,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth about $268,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at about $22,092,000. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 27,978 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 15,662 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.