Equitrans Midstream Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ETRN)

Equitrans Midstream Co. (NYSE:ETRN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 40,061 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 336% compared to the typical daily volume of 9,182 put options.

Institutional Trading of Equitrans Midstream

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. True North Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equitrans Midstream by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 82,347 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitrans Midstream in the 1st quarter valued at about $564,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equitrans Midstream in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Equitrans Midstream in the 1st quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equitrans Midstream by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 39,947 shares of the company's stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,079 shares in the last quarter. 87.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETRN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Equitrans Midstream from $6.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. TheStreet raised Equitrans Midstream from a "d+" rating to a "c-" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of Equitrans Midstream in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Equitrans Midstream from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.86.

Equitrans Midstream Price Performance

Equitrans Midstream stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.29. 4,441,579 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,355,025. The company has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.97. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $11.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.29. Equitrans Midstream has a 1 year low of $4.60 and a 1 year high of $13.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Equitrans Midstream (NYSE:ETRN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.16. Equitrans Midstream had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 30.89%. The firm had revenue of $360.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $348.04 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Equitrans Midstream will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Equitrans Midstream Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 6th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 5th. Equitrans Midstream's payout ratio is 67.42%.

About Equitrans Midstream

Equitrans Midstream Corporation owns, operates, acquires, and develops midstream assets in the Appalachian Basin. The company operates through Gathering, Transmission, and Water segments. It operates dry gas gathering systems of high-pressure gathering lines and FERC-regulated interstate pipelines and storage systems.