TransAlta Corporation $TAC Stock Holdings Cut by BROOKFIELD Corp ON

Key Points

• BROOKFIELD Corp ON has decreased its stake in TransAlta Corporation by 24.2%, owning approximately 26.9 million shares, making it the 9th largest holding in its portfolio.
• TransAlta recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.05 to $0.065 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.1%.
• Analysts are generally optimistic about TransAlta, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and a targeted share price increase to $20.00.

BROOKFIELD Corp ON cut its stake in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 24.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,930,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 8,592,906 shares during the quarter. TransAlta accounts for about 1.4% of BROOKFIELD Corp ON's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. BROOKFIELD Corp ON owned 9.08% of TransAlta worth $251,800,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 145,600.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 69,004 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 3,499 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in TransAlta by 48,666.7% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,389 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 4,380 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 64.9% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 17,525 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 6,900 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam grew its position in TransAlta by 239.2% during the first quarter. Tobam now owns 10,943 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 7,717 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. National Bankshares reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.88.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC stock traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $12.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,283,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,518,342. TransAlta Corporation has a 52-week low of $7.82 and a 52-week high of $14.64. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $12.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.92 and a beta of 0.78.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.94 million. Equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be issued a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta's payout ratio is presently -42.86%.

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.