Stock Traders Buy High Volume of TC Energy Put Options (NYSE:TRP)

TC Energy Co. (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 16,157 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,446% compared to the average volume of 1,045 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on TRP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of TC Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet upgraded shares of TC Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of TC Energy from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of TC Energy in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of TC Energy in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.83.

TC Energy Price Performance

Shares of TRP opened at $35.28 on Friday. TC Energy has a twelve month low of $32.51 and a twelve month high of $42.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. TC Energy had a net margin of 18.25% and a return on equity of 18.60%. Equities analysts forecast that TC Energy will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.714 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.10%. This is an increase from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. TC Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 139.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TRP. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of TC Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of TC Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of TC Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Glassman Wealth Services grew its position in shares of TC Energy by 61.0% in the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 726 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new position in shares of TC Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 83.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About TC Energy

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.