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

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in TC Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $428,759,000. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. grew its stake in shares of TC Energy by 571.7% in the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 6,184,832 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $288,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,264,079 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in TC Energy by 156.1% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,769,975 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,801 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. increased its holdings in TC Energy by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 7,637,469 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $355,371,000 after purchasing an additional 3,482,874 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its position in TC Energy by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 28,443,403 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,325,558,000 after purchasing an additional 2,644,627 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on TRP. TD Securities initiated coverage on TC Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of TC Energy from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Veritas raised shares of TC Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of TC Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

TC Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of TC Energy stock opened at $48.30 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $46.27 and its 200 day moving average is $46.84. TC Energy has a 1 year low of $34.95 and a 1 year high of $50.37.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.42 billion. TC Energy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 29.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that TC Energy will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is a boost from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. TC Energy’s payout ratio is 72.53%.

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.