Diameter Capital Partners LP Cuts Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Diameter Capital Partners LP lessened its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,250,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,250,000 shares during the period. TransAlta makes up 2.6% of Diameter Capital Partners LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Diameter Capital Partners LP owned 0.42% of TransAlta worth $17,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TAC. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $145,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,277,000 after buying an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in TransAlta by 20,398.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,703,000 after buying an additional 190,115 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in TransAlta by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 79,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,131,000 after buying an additional 5,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,139,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on TAC shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on TransAlta in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.75.

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $8.67. The stock had a trading volume of 1,323,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,150,671. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $6.78 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15 and a beta of 0.71. The company's 50 day moving average price is $9.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.90%.

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.