TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Stake Decreased by Clayton Partners LLC

Clayton Partners LLC lessened its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 21.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 779,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 216,911 shares during the period. TransAlta accounts for about 7.6% of Clayton Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Clayton Partners LLC owned 0.26% of TransAlta worth $11,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in TransAlta by 638.9% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,936,000 after buying an additional 6,913,431 shares during the last quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP boosted its stake in TransAlta by 69.9% during the 3rd quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 2,685,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,840,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,191 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its stake in TransAlta by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,622,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,254,000 after purchasing an additional 935,803 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $7,139,000. Finally, Potrero Capital Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,088,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. CIBC raised TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.50.

TransAlta Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of TAC stock opened at $9.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.13. TransAlta Co. has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. 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 Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

About TransAlta

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.