Summit Securities Group LLC Decreases Stake in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC)

Summit Securities Group LLC lessened its stake in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 55.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 36,668 shares during the quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $280,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 145,600.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 48,666.7% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 4,380 shares during the period. Tobam boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 239.2% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 10,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 7,717 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in TransAlta during the first quarter worth approximately $119,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in TransAlta by 64.9% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 17,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 6,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on TAC. Wall Street Zen upgraded TransAlta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. National Bankshares restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price (up previously from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.88.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TAC opened at $12.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98. TransAlta Corporation has a twelve month low of $7.82 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.25. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.43 and a beta of 0.75.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.06. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 2.06% and a negative net margin of 6.79%. The company had revenue of $451.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $473.94 million. On average, research analysts forecast that TransAlta Corporation 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 Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a $0.065 dividend. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -45.24%.

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.