BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Trims Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp cut its holdings in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 15.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 25,041 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TAC. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 156.3% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 1,381.5% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 3,951 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 2nd quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in TransAlta during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of TransAlta stock opened at $10.36 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.84. TransAlta Co. has a one year low of $5.94 and a one year high of $10.60.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.08. TransAlta had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 47.71%. The firm had revenue of $425.37 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.17 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a $0.044 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is 10.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th.

TransAlta Company Profile

TransAlta Corporation engages in the development, production, and sale of electric energy. It operates through Hydro, Wind and Solar, Gas, Energy Transition, and Energy Marketing segments. The Hydro segment holds interest of approximately 922 megawatts (MW) of owned hydroelectric generating capacity located in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.