TC Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:TRP)

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of TC Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Veritas raised shares of TC Energy to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of TC Energy in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of TC Energy from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of TC Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.67.

TC Energy Stock Performance

TRP stock opened at $47.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $49.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.24, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.23. TC Energy has a one year low of $31.83 and a one year high of $50.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.31.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last released 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 business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. TC Energy had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 12.92%. On average, equities analysts forecast that TC Energy will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.822 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.29 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.88%. This is an increase from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. TC Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 67.31%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TC Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,316 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $871,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 4.8% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 5,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 8.1% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 72.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 638 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 4.5% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.