TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 501,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $7,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Tobam acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $156,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $9.76 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $10.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.80 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $5.94 and a 12 month high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released 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 return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s payout ratio is 43.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

TransAlta 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.