TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Trading Down 14.5% – Here’s Why

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) shares fell 14.5% on Monday . The company traded as low as $11.31 and last traded at $11.52. 679,407 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 1,741,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TAC shares. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. CIBC cut TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 4th. Cibc World Mkts lowered TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Desjardins reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, TransAlta has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

TransAlta Trading Down 0.9 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.84.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.0423 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is 48.65%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yaupon Capital Management LP lifted its stake in TransAlta by 69.9% in the third quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 2,685,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,191 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of 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 position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $7,139,000. Potrero Capital Research LLC purchased a new position in TransAlta in the third quarter valued at $5,088,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in TransAlta by 9.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,593,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,613,000 after buying an additional 408,184 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.