Stock Traders Buy 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. Investors acquired 16,157 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,446% compared to the average daily volume of 1,045 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TC Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in TC Energy by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,677,989 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,174,931,000 after acquiring an additional 10,654,993 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in TC Energy by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 55,161,245 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,155,419,000 after acquiring an additional 5,822,056 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in TC Energy by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,404,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,579,404,000 after acquiring an additional 778,359 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in TC Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 37,412,046 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,461,583,000 after acquiring an additional 181,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in TC Energy by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 28,980,334 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,132,854,000 after acquiring an additional 3,497,666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on TRP. Barclays lifted their price objective on TC Energy from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on TC Energy in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on TC Energy in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. TheStreet raised TC Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on TC Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TC Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.83.

TC Energy Price Performance

TC Energy stock opened at $35.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.96. TC Energy has a 52 week low of $32.51 and a 52 week high of $42.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.10 and a 200-day moving average of $37.94.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.20. TC Energy had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 18.25%. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TC Energy will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.714 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.10%. This is a positive change from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. TC Energy’s payout ratio is currently 139.41%.

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.