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 company. This is an increase of 1,446% compared to the typical volume of 1,045 put options.

TC Energy Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:TRP opened at $45.53 on Friday. TC Energy has a 1 year low of $31.83 and a 1 year high of $50.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a PEG ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.83.

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

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.47%. This is an increase from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. TC Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TC Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in TC Energy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,687,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,035,952,000 after purchasing an additional 734,678 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,644,627 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of TC Energy by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,437,150 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $765,627,000 after buying an additional 344,485 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in TC Energy by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 14,755,330 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $686,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in TC Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $428,759,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on TRP shares. US Capital Advisors raised 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on TC Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TC Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Securities began coverage on shares of TC Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

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.