Swiss National Bank Lowers Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Swiss National Bank lessened its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 501,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.17% of TransAlta worth $7,084,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

TransAlta Stock Down 0.2 %

TransAlta stock opened at $9.76 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74.

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). The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. Analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

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.