TD Asset Management Inc Lowers Stock Holdings in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC)

TD Asset Management Inc trimmed its position in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,841,643 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 591,789 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc owned about 0.95% of TransAlta worth $26,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth $822,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,229,823 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $144,680,000 after purchasing an additional 150,554 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $147,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TAC has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank raised TransAlta from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded TransAlta from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, TransAlta has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.83.

TransAlta Stock Up 2.9%

NYSE TAC traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,472,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,085,836. TransAlta Corporation has a 52 week low of $7.40 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $11.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of -619.69 and a beta of 0.76.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.06. TransAlta had a net margin of 0.01% and a negative return on equity of 1.64%. The company had revenue of $451.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $473.94 million. Research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is presently -950.00%.

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.