Investors Purchase Large Volume of TC Energy Put Options (NYSE:TRP)

TC Energy Co. (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 16,157 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,446% compared to the average daily volume of 1,045 put options.

TC Energy Price Performance

TRP stock opened at $48.30 on Thursday. TC Energy has a 1 year low of $34.95 and a 1 year high of $50.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.84.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.54. TC Energy had a net margin of 29.40% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that TC Energy will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. TC Energy’s payout ratio is currently 72.53%.

Institutional Trading of TC Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in TC Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $428,759,000. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. raised its stake in shares of TC Energy by 571.7% in the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 6,184,832 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $288,043,000 after acquiring an additional 5,264,079 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in TC Energy by 156.1% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,769,975 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,801 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in TC Energy by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 7,637,469 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $355,371,000 after purchasing an additional 3,482,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its holdings in TC Energy by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 28,443,403 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,325,558,000 after purchasing an additional 2,644,627 shares during the period. 83.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on TRP shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of TC Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Securities assumed coverage on TC Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. US Capital Advisors upgraded TC Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Veritas upgraded TC Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered TC Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TC Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

TC Energy Company Profile

TC Energy Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. It operates through five segments: Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines; U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines; Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines; Liquids Pipelines; and Power and Energy Solutions. The company builds and operates a network of 93,600 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, which transports natural gas from supply basins to local distribution companies, power generation plants, industrial facilities, interconnecting pipelines, LNG export terminals, and other businesses.