TransAlta Corporation $TAC Shares Sold by TD Asset Management Inc

TD Asset Management Inc lowered its stake in shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 55.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,266,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,574,842 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $13,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in TransAlta by 199.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 16,462,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $153,813,000 after purchasing an additional 10,957,858 shares in the last quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP raised its holdings in TransAlta by 138.0% during the first quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 1,680,101 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,681,000 after purchasing an additional 974,253 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in TransAlta by 1,150.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 904,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,456,000 after purchasing an additional 832,000 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in TransAlta by 491.9% during the first quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 697,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,510,000 after purchasing an additional 579,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the first quarter worth approximately $4,200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Monday, October 6th. National Bankshares reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.88.

TransAlta Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of TransAlta stock opened at $16.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.42 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.79. TransAlta Corporation has a one year low of $7.82 and a one year high of $17.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $13.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.32.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $451.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.94 million. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 6.79% and a negative return on equity of 2.06%. On average, analysts forecast that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently -45.24%.

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.