Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 248,027 Shares of TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,949,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 248,027 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $149,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its position in TransAlta by 32.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 15,948,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $172,084,000 after acquiring an additional 3,948,451 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the third quarter worth $36,395,000. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 2nd quarter valued at $8,367,000. Westerly Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,281,000. Finally, Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of TransAlta by 9.0% during the second quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 6,085,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,513,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TAC. National Bank Financial downgraded TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.00.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $13.30 on Wednesday. TransAlta Corporation has a twelve month low of $7.82 and a twelve month high of $17.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.22. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of -28.30 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.81.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $436.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $493.39 million. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 7.51% and a positive return on equity of 9.23%. Equities research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.07 dividend. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. TransAlta’s payout ratio is -40.43%.

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.