Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Equitrans Midstream (NYSE:ETRN)

Equitrans Midstream Co. (NYSE:ETRN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 40,061 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 336% compared to the typical volume of 9,182 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ETRN. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Equitrans Midstream in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Equitrans Midstream from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equitrans Midstream from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Equitrans Midstream from $6.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equitrans Midstream currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.86.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equitrans Midstream

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETRN. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equitrans Midstream in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,093,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Equitrans Midstream in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,056,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Equitrans Midstream by 5.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 49,239,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,749,573 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Equitrans Midstream by 29.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,883,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Equitrans Midstream by 989.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,392,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,831,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173,196 shares during the last quarter. 87.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equitrans Midstream Price Performance

Shares of Equitrans Midstream stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.29. The company had a trading volume of 4,441,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,345,218. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.83. The company has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.27. Equitrans Midstream has a 1-year low of $4.60 and a 1-year high of $13.06.

Equitrans Midstream (NYSE:ETRN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $360.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $348.04 million. Equitrans Midstream had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 30.41%. Equitrans Midstream’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equitrans Midstream will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitrans Midstream Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 6th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 5th. Equitrans Midstream’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.42%.

About Equitrans Midstream

Equitrans Midstream Corporation owns, operates, acquires, and develops midstream assets in the Appalachian Basin. The company operates through Gathering, Transmission, and Water segments. It operates dry gas gathering systems of high-pressure gathering lines and FERC-regulated interstate pipelines and storage systems.