DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co Has $1.97 Million Stock Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co lowered its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 139,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the period. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $150,000. Pinnbrook Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,185,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 79,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 5,593 shares during the last quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. bought a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $3,439,000. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE:TAC opened at $10.88 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $12.65 and a 200-day moving average of $10.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 39.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on TAC. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. CIBC upgraded TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Desjardins reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.