Signaturefd LLC Buys 1,420 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 27,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $391,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TAC. Tobam bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TAC opened at $9.78 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.84 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $11.06 and its 200-day moving average is $11.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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. Sell-side analysts predict 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.90%.

About TransAlta

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.