Trexquant Investment LP Lowers Stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Trexquant Investment LP lowered its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 50.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 88,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 88,639 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tobam acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $156,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC opened at $8.81 on Thursday. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.72. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC upgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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, TransAlta has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.