TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

TransAlta Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE TAC opened at $10.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $8.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $10.60. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 0.91.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $425.37 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 18.41%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.044 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.97%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TAC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in TransAlta by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,498,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,907 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its stake in TransAlta by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,145,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,760,000 after buying an additional 740,786 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,387,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,458,000 after buying an additional 1,899,671 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of TransAlta by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,902,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,615,000 after acquiring an additional 98,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of TransAlta by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,618,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,267,000 after acquiring an additional 299,594 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.