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

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 32,488 put options on the company. This is an increase of 52% compared to the average volume of 21,350 put options.

Key Headlines Impacting Kinder Morgan

Here are the key news stories impacting Kinder Morgan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target on KMI from $34 to $36 (equal-weight). The higher target signals modest upside potential from the firm’s view even though the rating stayed neutral. Benzinga Article
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs reaffirmed a Buy on KMI and the company added roughly $900M in new gas projects to its backlog — clear evidence of near-term growth in fee-bearing assets that should support cash flow and distributions. Yahoo Finance
• Positive Sentiment: Sector commentary highlights rising clean-energy demand and stronger U.S. LNG exports lifting natural gas fundamentals, which benefits midstream names including KMI by improving volumes and utilization. Zacks — Natural Gas Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: KMI presented at the Raymond James Institutional Investor Conference — visibility from management and any incremental cadence on projects or capital allocation could influence sentiment but the transcript didn’t contain headline surprises. Seeking Alpha — Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary noted KMI outperformed the market recently but underperformed some peers on a relative basis — mixed relative performance can limit momentum even if the absolute trend is up. MarketWatch
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other outlets flag KMI among pipeline/midstream names positioned to capture additional cash flow from energy demand shifts — supportive backdrop but not an immediate catalyst on its own. Zacks — Pipeline Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option activity: investors bought ~32,488 KMI put contracts (a ~52% increase vs. average), which can signal increased hedging or bearish positioning that may weigh on the stock if buying persists.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director William A. Smith bought 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.75 per share, for a total transaction of $89,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 31,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $924,838.25. The trade was a 10.68% increase in their position. The purchase 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 Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.09, for a total value of $185,534.94. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 195,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,868,693.42. This trade represents a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 46,498 shares of company stock worth $1,382,115 over the last quarter. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth $1,132,125,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 431.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,569,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $185,971,000 after purchasing an additional 5,333,986 shares during the period. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $138,477,000. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 177.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 6,070,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $171,845,000 after purchasing an additional 3,885,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 59 North Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 54.5% during the second quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 10,597,380 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $311,563,000 after purchasing an additional 3,739,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of KMI traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $33.79. 11,880,886 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,636,435. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $75.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68. Kinder Morgan has a 52 week low of $23.94 and a 52 week high of $34.24.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $4.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is 85.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on KMI. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 14th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Freedom Capital raised Kinder Morgan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.62.

About Kinder Morgan

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.