Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Sells 5,306,037 Shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC)

Key Points

• Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in TransAlta Corporation by 66.4%, selling over 5 million shares, leaving them with approximately 2.69 million shares valued at around $25 million.
• TransAlta has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.065, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.1%, up from the previous dividend of $0.05.
• Despite a recent earnings report that beat estimates, TransAlta posted a negative net margin of 6.79% and a negative return on equity of 2.06%.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lessened its position in shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 66.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,689,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,306,037 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.91% of TransAlta worth $25,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 552,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,161,000 after acquiring an additional 51,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,291,968 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $96,055,000 after acquiring an additional 62,145 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 1st quarter worth approximately $355,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,049,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,119,000 after acquiring an additional 33,676 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in TransAlta by 27.5% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,846 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 14,636 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on TAC shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. National Bankshares reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $20.00 price objective (up previously from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of TransAlta from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.88.

TransAlta Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE TAC traded up $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $12.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 839,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,342,567. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98. TransAlta Corporation has a 1-year low of $7.82 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The company's 50-day moving average is $11.42 and its 200 day moving average is $10.22. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of -29.18 and a beta of 0.75.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $473.94 million. As a group, analysts predict that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.065 per share. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta's payout ratio is -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.