Mariner LLC Grows Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Mariner LLC lifted its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 74,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,250 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

TransAlta Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:TAC opened at $9.00 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a 12-month low of $6.51 and a 12-month high of $14.64. The company has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.38 and a 200 day moving average of $10.98. 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 (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 during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. 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 payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on TAC. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on TransAlta in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. CIBC upgraded TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four equities research 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.50.

TransAlta 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.