Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Kyndryl (NYSE:KD)

Kyndryl Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 5,399 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 174% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,968 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KD shares. Zacks Research upgraded Kyndryl from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Kyndryl from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank began coverage on Kyndryl in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Kyndryl in a research note on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Kyndryl from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Vineet Khurana sold 6,641 shares of Kyndryl stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.69, for a total transaction of $177,248.29. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 59,708 shares in the company, valued at $1,593,606.52. This trade represents a 10.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kyndryl

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kyndryl by 75.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Kyndryl by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Kyndryl by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kyndryl by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in Kyndryl by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 77,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,331,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. 71.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kyndryl Stock Up 8.8%

Kyndryl stock opened at $12.10 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $24.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.97. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 1.84. Kyndryl has a 1-year low of $10.10 and a 1-year high of $44.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Kyndryl (NYSE:KD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $3.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.89 billion. Kyndryl had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 25.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kyndryl will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kyndryl News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Kyndryl this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Kyndryl announced a new “agentic AI workflow governance” capability aimed at regulated, mission‑critical deployments — a product milestone that reinforces its enterprise AI positioning and could help with longer‑term demand. Agentic AI workflow governance
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity spiked (notably a large increase in put volume), signaling heavy hedging/speculation that can amplify intraday moves and volatility; trade flows may be contributing to today’s bounce.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities‑law firms have filed or launched investigations and class actions alleging misstatements and seeking lead plaintiffs for purchasers of KD shares from Aug. 7, 2024 to Feb. 9, 2026 — increasing litigation risk and potential costs. Class action reminder
• Negative Sentiment: Kyndryl disclosed an internal accounting review (including cash‑management procedures), said it would delay a quarterly filing, and saw abrupt departures of the CFO and General Counsel — developments that triggered SEC attention and a severe market reaction. Accounting review and departures
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts have reacted with downgrades and lower ratings after the company’s guidance cuts, missed estimates and the control/filing issues — a headwind for sentiment and potential near‑term institutional selling. Guggenheim downgrade

Kyndryl Company Profile

Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is a global managed infrastructure services provider formed in November 2021 through the spin-off of IBM’s Managed Infrastructure Services business. The company designs, builds, manages and modernizes critical information technology systems for enterprises worldwide. Kyndryl’s core offerings include cloud migration and management, network and edge computing solutions, digital workplace services and IT resiliency and security capabilities.

With a workforce of approximately 90,000 professionals and operations in more than 60 countries, Kyndryl serves clients across a broad range of industries, including financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing and retail.