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

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 34,571 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 51% compared to the average volume of 22,868 call options.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, Director Amy W. Chronis bought 2,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,235.55. This trade represents a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $502,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,121 shares of company stock valued at $1,497,000. 12.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

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

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE KMI traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $27.40. 5,575,839 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,186,562. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Kinder Morgan has a 1-year low of $16.47 and a 1-year high of $31.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.60. The firm has a market cap of $60.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.10%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on KMI. Truist Financial increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.14.

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.