Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of TC Energy Put Options (NYSE:TRP)

TC Energy Co. (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 16,157 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,446% compared to the average daily volume of 1,045 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on TRP. UBS Group upgraded TC Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised TC Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on TC Energy in a research report on Saturday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of TC Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of TC Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.50.

TC Energy Price Performance

Shares of TC Energy stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $48.73. 150,311 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,080,971. The business has a fifty day moving average of $46.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The company has a market capitalization of $50.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.81. TC Energy has a 1 year low of $31.83 and a 1 year high of $50.22.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. TC Energy had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 31.15%. As a group, research analysts predict that TC Energy will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.822 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.75%. TC Energy’s payout ratio is 78.95%.

Institutional Trading of TC Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRP. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in TC Energy by 2.7% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,170,304 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,297,701,000 after buying an additional 1,492,315 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of TC Energy by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,057,330 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,650,505,000 after purchasing an additional 653,031 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in TC Energy by 107.1% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,462,155 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $737,609,000 after purchasing an additional 10,065,000 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in TC Energy by 94.9% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 17,124,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $688,534,000 after purchasing an additional 8,339,800 shares during the period. Finally, Murchinson Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of TC Energy during the first quarter worth $506,485,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.13% of the company’s stock.

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.