Amy Chronis, a director at Kinder Morgan (KMI), recently bought 9,732 shares. The buy increased her stake by 81%, and came to a total cost of $200,986.
This marks the first insider buy at the company over the past two years. Company insiders have been regular sellers of shares, including a few company executives who have been consistent sellers of small amounts of their holdings on a regular basis.
Overall, Kinder Morgan insiders own 12.8% of shares.
The oil and gas pipeline company is up 19% over the past year, slightly beating the return of the overall stock market. Operationally, the company has been lackluster. Earnings are down 2% over the past year, but revenues are up 2%.
Even with the move higher, shares are inexpensively priced at about 16 times forward earnings. That’s also a strong discount to the overall market right now.
Action to take: Besides being in an uptrend and having more upside potential, Kinder Morgan pays a strong dividend, with a current yield of about 5.5%.
Investors may want to accumulate shares near today’s prices, and use any market pullbacks to add more.
For traders, the December $23 calls, last trading for about $0.42, could see high double-digit returns or better on a further trend higher through the end of the year.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.