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

Key Points

• Traders purchased 16,157 put options on TC Energy, marking an increase of approximately 1,446% compared to the average volume.
• Multiple brokerages have downgraded TC Energy's stock ratings recently, with one analyst giving a Sell rating among mixed evaluations.
• TC Energy has announced an increased quarterly dividend of $0.6148, representing an annual yield of 4.7% as part of its financial strategy.

TC Energy Corporation (NYSE:TRP - Get Free Report) TSE: TRP was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 16,157 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,446% compared to the average volume of 1,045 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TRP. Wall Street Zen downgraded TC Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of TC Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. US Capital Advisors downgraded TC Energy from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of TC Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Cibc World Mkts downgraded TC Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.00.

TC Energy Stock Performance

NYSE TRP opened at $51.79 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $53.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.75. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $52.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.86. TC Energy has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $55.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP - Get Free Report) TSE: TRP last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. TC Energy had a return on equity of 11.22% and a net margin of 28.98%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that TC Energy will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 29th will be given a $0.6148 dividend. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. This is a boost from TC Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 29th. TC Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TC Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of TC Energy by 1.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 915,241 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $43,209,000 after acquiring an additional 10,227 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of TC Energy by 77.7% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TC Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $432,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TC Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $776,000. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of TC Energy by 34.4% in the second quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 649,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $31,665,000 after purchasing an additional 166,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.13% of the company's stock.

TC Energy Company Profile

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.

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