Intact Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Intact Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,343,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 262,400 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $18,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $112,936,000 after acquiring an additional 6,913,431 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $58,254,000 after acquiring an additional 935,803 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,593,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,613,000 after acquiring an additional 408,184 shares during the period. Yaupon Capital Management LP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $27,840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,191 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,286,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,343,000 after acquiring an additional 352,860 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $9.41 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. On average, analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

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.