Yaupon Capital Management LP Raises Stock Holdings in TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Key Points

• Yaupon Capital Management LP increased its stake in TransAlta Corporation by 138.0% in Q1, now owning approximately 1.68 million shares valued at around $15.68 million.
• TransAlta recently upgraded its quarterly dividend from $0.05 to $0.065 per share, effective October 1st, which results in an annual yield of 2.1%.
• Scotiabank and TD Securities both issued positive ratings for TransAlta, with Scotiabank raising its target price from $16.00 to $20.00, indicative of expected growth.

Yaupon Capital Management LP increased its stake in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 138.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,680,101 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 974,253 shares during the quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP owned 0.57% of TransAlta worth $15,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in TAC. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth about $346,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 280.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $76,211,000 after buying an additional 3,969,037 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth about $167,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 73,063 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,034,000 after buying an additional 13,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new stake in TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,472,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC remained flat at $12.65 during midday trading on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 699,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 905,093. The stock's 50 day moving average is $12.11 and its 200-day moving average is $10.46. TransAlta Corporation has a 12-month low of $7.82 and a 12-month high of $14.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.12 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.79.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 2.06% and a negative net margin of 6.79%.The firm had revenue of $451.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $473.94 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -45.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

About TransAlta

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.