Kinder Morgan Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:KMI)

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 34,571 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 51% compared to the average volume of 22,868 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.14.

Insider Activity

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total value of $502,499.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 897,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,590,294.56. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis bought 2,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,235.55. This represents a 10.30 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,121 shares of company stock worth $1,497,000. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 143.6% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMI traded down $0.62 during trading on Friday, hitting $27.49. 21,418,741 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,961,949. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $61.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.94. Kinder Morgan has a 12-month low of $16.47 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.65.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. On average, analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 98.29%.

About Kinder Morgan

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.