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

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 25,728 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 73% compared to the typical volume of 14,862 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 3,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.23 per share, for a total transaction of $99,674.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 39,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,024,307.73. The trade was a 10.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard D. Kinder acquired 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.96 per share, with a total value of $25,960,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 246,212,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,391,672,683.88. The trade was a 0.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,004,287 shares of company stock valued at $26,072,463 and sold 18,498 shares valued at $507,462. Corporate insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 116.1% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record Q4 and full‑year results — KMI reported higher revenue and EPS that beat consensus, with strong Natural Gas Pipelines contributions and a larger backlog that helped drive a jump in net income. Kinder Morgan Posts Record Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Structural LNG tailwinds/backlog — management cites rising LNG feed‑gas demand and a >$10B project backlog that should underpin multi‑year cash flow and project EBITDA as new projects come online. LNG feed gas demand & backlog
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend and capital returns — KMI declared the quarterly dividend (maintains a ~4% yield) and reiterated capital allocation that supports distributions while funding growth projects.
• Positive Sentiment: Insiders and buying signals — recent insider purchases (including Amy W. Chronis and others) and elevated call‑option activity signal some bullish conviction from traders. Amy Chronis purchase
• Neutral Sentiment: Asset sale — KMI sold its Eagle Ford JV stake for ~$396M to BPX, which raises near‑term cash and simplifies upstream exposure; impact on long‑term earnings depends on redeployment. Eagle Ford sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/price target moves — modest target increases and “sector perform” notes (e.g., Scotiabank) reflect cautious optimism but limited near‑term upside. Price target update
• Negative Sentiment: Cautious guidance — management issued relatively conservative near‑term guidance despite the strong quarter, which can cap investor enthusiasm for an immediate rerating. MarketBeat: cautious guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed insider activity — while some insiders bought, Quiver/filings show multiple executive share sales in recent months, which can be read as profit‑taking by some market participants. Quiver insider activity

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.07.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.4%

KMI stock opened at $29.58 on Friday. Kinder Morgan has a one year low of $23.94 and a one year high of $30.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $27.27 and its 200 day moving average is $27.23. The firm has a market cap of $65.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be given a $0.2925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 95.90%.

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.