TC Energy Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:TRP)

Key Points

• TC Energy Corporation saw a significant surge in put options trading, with 16,157 options purchased, marking an approximately 1,446% increase from the average daily volume.
• The company's average rating is currently a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $62.00, despite mixed ratings from various analysts.
• TC Energy has declared a quarterly dividend increase, with a new dividend of $0.6148, reflecting a 4.7% dividend yield for stockholders.

TC Energy Corporation (NYSE:TRP - Get Free Report) TSE: TRP saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 16,157 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,446% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,045 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TC Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TC Energy by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,907,306 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,241,195,000 after buying an additional 1,509,328 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of TC Energy by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 20,986,748 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,025,220,000 after buying an additional 1,178,190 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of TC Energy by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 19,074,181 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $929,316,000 after buying an additional 1,618,441 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of TC Energy by 80.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 16,983,443 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $802,164,000 after buying an additional 7,562,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TC Energy by 2,565.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 16,306,187 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $769,815,000 after buying an additional 15,694,336 shares during the last quarter. 83.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TC Energy Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:TRP traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $52.57. The stock had a trading volume of 1,243,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,694,525. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. TC Energy has a 1-year low of $40.76 and a 1-year high of $53.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.12. The company has a market cap of $54.69 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 0.77.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP - Get Free Report) TSE: TRP last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. TC Energy had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 11.22%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. Analysts predict that TC Energy will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 29th will be given a $0.6148 dividend. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. This is a positive change from TC Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 29th. TC Energy's dividend payout ratio is 85.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TRP. US Capital Advisors lowered shares of TC Energy from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of TC Energy in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TC Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.00.

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.