Kinder Morgan Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:KMI)

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 24,371 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 73% compared to the typical volume of 14,096 call options.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In related news, Chairman Richard D. Kinder acquired 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $25,960,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 246,212,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,391,672,683.88. The trade was a 0.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.81, for a total value of $171,476.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 207,370 shares in the company, valued at $5,766,959.70. The trade was a 2.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 1,004,287 shares of company stock worth $26,072,463 and sold 18,498 shares worth $511,655. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 116.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,046 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $30.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, September 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.33.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI opened at $26.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.29. Kinder Morgan has a 52 week low of $23.94 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.61% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.270-1.270 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were given 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 of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.90%.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) is a large energy infrastructure company that owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines and terminals across North America. Its core activities center on the transportation, storage and handling of energy products, including natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined petroleum products and carbon dioxide. The company’s assets include long-haul and gathering pipelines, storage facilities, and multi-modal terminals that serve producers, refiners, utilities and industrial customers.

Kinder Morgan’s operations deliver midstream services such as pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage and related logistics and maintenance.