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

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 26,802 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 45% compared to the average daily volume of 18,489 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMI shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

Insider Activity

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $597,235.55. This trade represents a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $502,380.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 861,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 745,263 shares of company stock valued at $18,578,014 in the last three months. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KMI. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 143.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, HM Payson & Co. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 401.8% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:KMI traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $30.03. The company had a trading volume of 11,739,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,088,289. Kinder Morgan has a 1 year low of $16.47 and a 1 year high of $30.05. The company has a market cap of $66.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.47 and a 200 day moving average of $23.91. 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 (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.76%. Kinder Morgan’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

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.