TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) is Clayton Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Clayton Partners LLC cut its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 21.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 779,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 216,911 shares during the period. TransAlta accounts for 7.6% of Clayton Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Clayton Partners LLC’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $11,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC stock opened at $9.54 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a 52-week low of $5.94 and a 52-week high of $14.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26 and a beta of 0.89.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Research analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.