Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $752,000 Stock Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank reduced its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,589 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tobam acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the third quarter worth $61,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $145,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TransAlta Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:TAC opened at $9.76 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $5.94 and a 12 month high of $14.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80 and a beta of 0.89.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. The company had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.50.

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.