Caption Management LLC Raises Stake in TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Key Points

• Caption Management LLC has significantly increased its holdings in TransAlta Corporation by 156.2% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 60,044 shares, which brings their total to 98,493 shares valued at approximately $921,000.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Bank of America Corp and Invesco Ltd, have also ramped up their investments in TransAlta, indicating strong investor confidence in the company.
• TransAlta recently declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.065 per share, representing a dividend yield of 2.1%, up from a previous quarterly payment of $0.05.

Caption Management LLC grew its stake in shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 156.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,493 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 60,044 shares during the quarter. Caption Management LLC's holdings in TransAlta were worth $921,000 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. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in TransAlta by 280.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $76,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,037 shares in the last quarter. Potrero Capital Research LLC raised its holdings in TransAlta by 373.2% during the fourth quarter. Potrero Capital Research LLC now owns 2,323,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,884,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832,803 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

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. National Bankshares reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $19.88.

TransAlta Stock Performance

NYSE:TAC traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $12.05. The stock had a trading volume of 357,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,180,587. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.38. TransAlta Corporation has a 12-month low of $7.82 and a 12-month high of $14.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.68 and a beta of 0.78.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.06. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 6.79% and a negative return on equity of 2.06%. The firm had revenue of $451.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.94 million. On average, equities analysts expect that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st will be given a $0.065 dividend. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. TransAlta's payout ratio is -45.24%.

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.