Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on TC Energy (NYSE:TRP)

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TRP. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of TC Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Securities assumed coverage on TC Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised TC Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group upgraded TC Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Veritas upgraded TC Energy to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TC Energy

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRP. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of TC Energy by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,892,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $450,749,000 after purchasing an additional 467,497 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised 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 worth $321,778,000 after buying an additional 4,126,801 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in TC Energy by 8.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,712,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $225,890,000 after buying an additional 360,548 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP grew its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 37.9% during the third quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 4,097,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $194,776,000 after buying an additional 1,127,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its position in shares of TC Energy by 29.2% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 3,198,140 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $152,072,000 after acquiring an additional 722,619 shares in the last quarter. 83.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TC Energy Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:TRP opened at $47.19 on Thursday. TC Energy has a 1-year low of $31.83 and a 1-year high of $50.37. The company has a market capitalization of $49.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $47.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.06. TC Energy had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 12.92%. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that TC Energy will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.822 per share. This represents a $3.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. TC Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.16%.

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.