TransAlta Corporation (TAC) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 1st

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.07 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is a 7.7% increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07.

TransAlta has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. TransAlta has a dividend payout ratio of 117.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect TransAlta to earn $0.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.4%.

TransAlta Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE:TAC opened at $14.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.61. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $9.52 and a 12-month high of $17.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.38 and a beta of 0.66.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 9.52% and a negative net margin of 9.46%.The firm had revenue of $406.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.36 million. Equities research analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,128,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in TransAlta by 54.7% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 1,642 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 17.9% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,428,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,709,000 after buying an additional 217,200 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,448,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 23.8% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,338,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,595,000 after acquiring an additional 257,356 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation, originally founded in 1909 as Calgary Power Company Ltd., is a publicly traded energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and transmission assets. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, TransAlta has grown from its early hydroelectric roots into a diversified energy provider with a multi-fuel generating fleet.

The company’s core business activities encompass power generation, asset management and energy trading services.