Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Kinder Morgan Put Options (NYSE:KMI)

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 13,780 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 46% compared to the average volume of 9,416 put options.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Garthwaite sold 1,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.80, for a total value of $47,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 48,863 shares in the company, valued at $1,504,980.40. This represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 12.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 175,834,246 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,621,421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875,143 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 4.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 130,863,419 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,183,704,000 after buying an additional 5,361,578 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,018,394 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,079,477,000 after acquiring an additional 836,571 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,237,384 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $577,998,000 after purchasing an additional 448,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 15,130,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $507,332,000 after buying an additional 831,125 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on KMI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Kinder Morgan from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.47.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

NYSE KMI opened at $34.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $76.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Kinder Morgan has a 52-week low of $25.60 and a 52-week high of $34.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $31.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.03.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.06. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $4.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.360-1.360 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2975 per share. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is 76.28%.

Kinder Morgan News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Improving natural-gas fundamentals are supporting KMI: stronger LNG feedgas demand, tighter storage conditions and higher gas volumes could benefit the company’s transportation and storage operations. Management previously indicated that 2026 adjusted EBITDA could exceed its budget by more than 5%, while adjusted EPS could be more than 12% above budget. Kinder Morgan gains as investors weigh stronger gas-market signals and project momentum
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are looking for higher natural-gas volumes, rising LNG demand and KMI’s fee-based contracts to support third-quarter results. The company’s project backlog is concentrated largely in natural-gas infrastructure, including projects tied to power-generation and local-distribution demand. Kinder Morgan to Report Q3 Earnings: What’s in Store for the Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent project progress, including the Western Gateway pipeline investment decision and favorable environmental findings for the Texas Access Project, reinforces expectations for future growth and expansion. Kinder Morgan gains as investors weigh stronger gas-market signals and project momentum
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is focusing on operating metrics beyond revenue and earnings per share ahead of the September-quarter report. Results that exceed expectations could support the stock, while weaker volumes or guidance could temper the recent rally. Ahead of Kinder Morgan Q3 Earnings: Get Ready With Wall Street Estimates for Key Metrics
• Negative Sentiment: Put-option activity was unusually elevated, with purchases approximately 46% above typical volume, suggesting some traders are hedging against a post-earnings pullback or increased volatility.
• Negative Sentiment: Insiders reported multiple open-market sales and no purchases during the past six months. While these transactions do not necessarily reflect company fundamentals, they may weigh on sentiment.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

Kinder Morgan, Inc (NYSE: KMI) is an energy infrastructure company that owns and operates pipelines, terminals, and other transportation and storage facilities. Its systems primarily support the movement, processing, and storage of natural gas, crude oil, refined petroleum products, and other energy commodities.

The company’s natural gas business transports and stores natural gas for utilities, power generators, industrial customers, and other energy companies. Kinder Morgan also operates refined products and crude oil pipelines, liquids terminals, and carbon dioxide infrastructure.