KIM heads into its Q1 2026 results — due today, April 30 — with short sellers steadily rebuilding positions and options markets leaning unusually bullish.
The most notable tension is in the divergence between short positioning and options sentiment. Short interest has climbed nearly 9% over the past month to 3.9% of the free float, with the sharpest move coming this week — up 7.7% from a week ago to roughly 26.6 million shares. That follows a mid-April low when borrowed shares dipped below 24 million, before a clear reversal into the print. The ORTEX short score has ticked up each day this week, reaching 40.2 on April 28, its highest level in the recent window. While 3.9% of float is far from extreme in absolute terms, the direction matters here: shorts have been adding conviction into a catalyst.
Options positioning cuts in the opposite direction. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.65, more than 1.2 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.77 — and close to the 52-week low of 0.56. That means call demand is running well above recent norms. For context, through early April the PCR sat persistently above 0.90 as macro uncertainty dominated; the drop since mid-April signals a meaningful rotation toward positioning for upside. Borrow conditions add little fuel to either side: cost to borrow has eased to 0.44% and availability is ample at nearly 1,970% of short interest, meaning the lending pool is effectively unconstrained. There is no squeeze pressure here.
The Street broadly lacks conviction on KIM but is cautiously lifting targets. Morgan Stanley's Richard Hill was the most recent to move, raising his target to $24 from $23.50 on April 16 while keeping an Equal-Weight rating. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have both nudged targets higher in recent months — JP Morgan to $25, Wells Fargo to $25 — but neither upgraded the rating. The consensus mean target of roughly $25.08 sits about 6% above the current price of $23.64, implying modest upside that the market hasn't yet awarded. The bull case rests on Kimco's 567 open-air shopping centres, stable anchor tenants, and strong dividend, with the dividend score ranking in the 94th percentile. The bear case centres on e-commerce headwinds and margin pressure on smaller retail tenants — concerns the Street appears to have priced in without moving to outright sells.
February's Q4 results give a clean reference point for what to expect from the reaction function. The stock gained 3.3% the day after the last print and held most of that through the following week, closing 2.6% higher on a five-day basis. That was a modestly positive surprise in a noisy tape. Occupancy and same-property NOI growth will again be the key lines watched, along with any update to full-year guidance given the macro backdrop.
Institutional ownership remains heavily concentrated in passive hands — Vanguard holds 16.1% and BlackRock 12.0%, with State Street adding another 7.0%. Cohen & Steers, the dedicated REIT specialist, holds 6.9% and added roughly 3.7 million shares as of year-end. On the insider side, the most recent activity was a cluster of sales in mid-February at $22.32, including CEO Conor Flynn's disposal of nearly 48,000 shares. These look like routine compensation-linked sells rather than directional statements — the net 90-day insider flow of roughly $2.2 million in sales is small relative to the company's size.
Among close peers, the week was broadly weak on the final session: BRX fell 1.9% on Wednesday and UE dropped 2.8%, while KRG was off just 0.4%. KIM's 0.3% weekly gain was broadly in line with the group, with PECO the clear outperformer at +4.2% on the week. The relative stability in KIM through a choppy tape for retail REITs is worth noting ahead of today's print.
With results due this morning, the setup is one where options traders are positioned more optimistically than the shorts, borrow conditions impose no mechanical pressure, and the Street sits in a holding pattern just below fair value. The next key variables are same-store NOI growth, leasing spreads, and whether management's tone on the consumer backdrop supports or challenges the quiet optimism reflected in the call-heavy options book.
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