Intact Investment Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC)

Intact Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 59.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 549,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 794,400 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.18% of TransAlta worth $5,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 20,398.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,703,000 after purchasing an additional 190,115 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at about $346,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in TransAlta by 145,600.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in TransAlta by 7.5% during 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 during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at about $150,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

TransAlta Stock Performance

NYSE:TAC traded down $0.38 on Friday, reaching $11.00. 3,164,145 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,260,610. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.19, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -549.93 and a beta of 0.74. TransAlta Corporation has a 52 week low of $6.78 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.75.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.02). TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 1.64% and a net margin of 0.01%. The business had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $509.31 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on TAC. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.75.

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.