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

TC Energy Co. (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 16,157 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,446% compared to the typical volume of 1,045 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TC Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NTV Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in TC Energy by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 6,189 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of TC Energy by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,316 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Lee Financial Co grew its stake in TC Energy by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 8,185 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in TC Energy by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,809 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in TC Energy by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 16,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $745,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. 83.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. US Capital Advisors upgraded TC Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut TC Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Veritas raised shares of TC Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities initiated coverage on shares of TC Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of TC Energy from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

TC Energy Stock Performance

NYSE TRP opened at $48.77 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a PEG ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. TC Energy has a twelve month low of $34.95 and a twelve month high of $50.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.98.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 29.40%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that TC Energy will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. This is an increase from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. TC Energy’s payout ratio is 72.53%.

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.