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

TC Energy Corporation (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 16,157 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,446% compared to the typical volume of 1,045 put options.

Institutional Trading of TC Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its holdings in TC Energy by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 1,625 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,991 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of TC Energy by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,964 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in TC Energy by 2.8% in the third quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,342 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank grew its stake in TC Energy by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 9,854 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $542,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. 83.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TC Energy Stock Performance

Shares of TRP traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $63.65. 1,047,349 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,432,978. TC Energy has a 1-year low of $43.59 and a 1-year high of $65.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.39 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.80.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 13th. The pipeline company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. TC Energy had a return on equity of 10.52% and a net margin of 23.04%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that TC Energy will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.8775 dividend. This represents a $3.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. This is a positive change from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. TC Energy’s payout ratio is currently 106.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on TRP. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered TC Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on TC Energy from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of TC Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of TC Energy in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of TC Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.50.

About TC Energy

TC Energy (NYSE: TRP) is a North American energy infrastructure company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Formerly known as TransCanada, the company rebranded as TC Energy to reflect its broad presence across Canada, the United States and Mexico. TC Energy develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of energy infrastructure assets that play a central role in the transportation and delivery of energy across the continent.

The company’s principal businesses include long‑distance natural gas transmission, liquids (crude oil) pipelines, natural gas storage and power generation.