TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Stock Price Up 3.7%

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) shot up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.66 and last traded at $9.64. 127,990 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 736,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday.

TransAlta Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.31.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $425.37 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. On average, analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a $0.044 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.97%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,498,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,907 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of TransAlta by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,387,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,458,000 after buying an additional 1,899,671 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its position in TransAlta by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,145,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,760,000 after acquiring an additional 740,786 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in TransAlta by 93.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,525,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,688,000 after buying an additional 738,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the first quarter worth about $3,779,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.