Traders Purchase Large Volume of Kinder Morgan Put Options (NYSE:KMI)

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 61,342 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 326% compared to the typical volume of 14,400 put options.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total value of $508,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 771,652 shares in the company, valued at $21,806,885.52. This trade represents a 2.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 2nd quarter valued at $161,000. Applied Capital LLC FL lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 17.2% during the second quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 14,954 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 46.6% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 301,908 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,876,000 after buying an additional 95,978 shares in the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 352.2% during the second quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 33,783 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $939,000 after buying an additional 26,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 219,903 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $6,465,000 after buying an additional 57,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMI traded up $0.58 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.39. 19,084,372 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,437,957. Kinder Morgan has a 12 month low of $19.68 and a 12 month high of $31.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $60.87 billion, a PE ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.75.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28. The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 17.06%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is 95.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on KMI. Scotiabank raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Cowen initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $34.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, July 7th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.00.

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.