Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Equitrans Midstream (NYSE:ETRN)

Equitrans Midstream Co. (NYSE:ETRN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 41,173 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 330% compared to the average daily volume of 9,579 call options.

Institutional Trading of Equitrans Midstream

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETRN. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitrans Midstream by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitrans Midstream by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equitrans Midstream by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 43,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,626 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equitrans Midstream by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 33,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Equitrans Midstream by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 542,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.35% of the company’s stock.

Equitrans Midstream Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ETRN traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.39. 5,320,091 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,327,810. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.97. Equitrans Midstream has a twelve month low of $4.65 and a twelve month high of $13.51.

Equitrans Midstream (NYSE:ETRN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.16. Equitrans Midstream had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business had revenue of $360.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $348.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Equitrans Midstream will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitrans Midstream Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. Equitrans Midstream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ETRN. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Equitrans Midstream from $6.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of Equitrans Midstream in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equitrans Midstream from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 27th. Finally, 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.86.

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.