Bank of America Corp DE Decreases Stock Holdings in TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Key Points

• Bank of America reduced its TransAlta holdings by 27.8% in the first quarter, selling 3.06 million shares and retaining 7.96 million shares worth approximately $104.2 million.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with TransAlta receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $24.50 target price, despite one recent “Strong Sell” downgrade.
• TransAlta reported quarterly EPS of $0.13, exceeding estimates, while revenue fell short of forecasts. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share, representing a 2.3% annualized yield.

Bank of America Corp DE lowered its holdings in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 27.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,957,029 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,064,720 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 2.67% of TransAlta worth $104,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in TransAlta by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the period. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $129,000. Ritter Alpha LP acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $131,000. Finally, Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 8.7% during the first quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 11,078 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upgraded TransAlta to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen initiated coverage on TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded TransAlta from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.50.

TransAlta Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE TAC opened at $12.43 on Friday. TransAlta Corporation has a 1 year low of $11.38 and a 1 year high of $17.88. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.02 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $13.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.19.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 8.85% and a negative net margin of 2.76%.The firm had revenue of $342.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $379.54 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -111.11%.

About TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation, originally founded in 1909 as Calgary Power Company Ltd., is a publicly traded energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and transmission assets. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, TransAlta has grown from its early hydroelectric roots into a diversified energy provider with a multi-fuel generating fleet.

The company's core business activities encompass power generation, asset management and energy trading services.

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