CIBC Asset Management Inc Lowers Stock Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

CIBC Asset Management Inc cut its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 83.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 328,108 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,688,667 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $4,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. Tobam purchased a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 6.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,492 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in TransAlta during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 23.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 26,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 5,008 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC opened at $10.53 on Thursday. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0423 per share. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Desjardins reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.