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

TC Energy Co. (NYSE:TRP - Get Free Report) TSE: TRP was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 16,157 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,446% compared to the typical volume of 1,045 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TRP shares. UBS Group raised shares of TC Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of TC Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Veritas upgraded TC Energy to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised TC Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on TC Energy from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.50.

TC Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE TRP traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $48.61. The company had a trading volume of 399,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,082,100. TC Energy has a 1-year low of $31.83 and a 1-year high of $50.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.78 and a 200 day moving average of $42.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP - Get Free Report) TSE: TRP last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.06. TC Energy had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 12.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TC Energy will post 2.98 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 Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.822 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from TC Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.76%. TC Energy's payout ratio is presently 78.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TC Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in TC Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in TC Energy in the first quarter valued at $219,000. Windsor Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in TC Energy by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Windsor Advisory Group LLC now owns 12,831 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in TC Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $111,587,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in TC Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,159,000. 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.