TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Stock Position Trimmed by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia lowered its holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 19.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,148,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 515,196 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $30,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 1,420 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in TransAlta by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,277,000 after buying an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. Tobam acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in TransAlta by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 79,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 29,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Stock Up 8.0 %

TAC stock opened at $8.81 on Thursday. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.72.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share 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 return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Equities analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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