Investment Management Corp of Ontario Sells 1,400 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario reduced its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,297 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $145,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 20,398.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,703,000 after buying an additional 190,115 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 5,593 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,139,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in TransAlta by 190.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 147,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 96,856 shares during the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC raised TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on TransAlta in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.75.

TransAlta Stock Up 2.7%

NYSE TAC opened at $9.14 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.88. TransAlta Co. has a one year low of $6.78 and a one year high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29 and a beta of 0.71.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $526.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. Research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently -900.00%.

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.