Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Buys 32,850 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 65.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 32,850 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Potrero Capital Research LLC lifted its stake in TransAlta by 373.2% in the fourth quarter. Potrero Capital Research LLC now owns 2,323,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832,803 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at about $428,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $1,472,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in TransAlta by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 73,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after buying an additional 13,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main bought a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $167,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC opened at $9.10 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.85. TransAlta Co. has a 1 year low of $6.78 and a 1 year high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 0.71.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.02). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The business had revenue of $526.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $509.31 million. Research analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is presently -900.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on TAC shares. StockNews.com downgraded TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TransAlta has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.75.

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.