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

TC Energy Corporation (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TC Energy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of TRP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in TC Energy by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,801,695 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,632,200,000 after purchasing an additional 980,221 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of TC Energy by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 41,977,582 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,282,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,864 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 28,305,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,558,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,166 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of TC Energy by 5.9% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 20,986,748 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,220,000 after buying an additional 1,178,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in TC Energy by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 20,868,772 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,150,656,000 after buying an additional 1,244,525 shares during the period. 83.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on TRP shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TC Energy in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial raised TC Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on TC Energy from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce downgraded TC Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of TC Energy in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TC Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.50.

TC Energy Stock Performance

Shares of TRP stock opened at $62.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $56.81 and its 200 day moving average is $53.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.90 and a beta of 0.73. TC Energy has a 12 month low of $43.59 and a 12 month high of $63.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 13th. The pipeline company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. TC Energy had a net margin of 23.04% and a return on equity of 10.52%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that TC Energy will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.8775 per share. This is a boost from TC Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. TC Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.90%.

TC Energy Company Profile

TC Energy (NYSE: TRP) is a North American energy infrastructure company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Formerly known as TransCanada, the company rebranded as TC Energy to reflect its broad presence across Canada, the United States and Mexico. TC Energy develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of energy infrastructure assets that play a central role in the transportation and delivery of energy across the continent.

The company’s principal businesses include long‑distance natural gas transmission, liquids (crude oil) pipelines, natural gas storage and power generation.