Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Sells 1,171,118 Shares of TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Key Points

• Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec significantly decreased its position in TransAlta Corporation by 45.7%, selling over 1.17 million shares, leaving it with approximately 1.39 million shares valued at $12.95 million.
• TransAlta reported a quarterly EPS of $0.13, surpassing estimates, though revenue fell short at $451.20 million compared to expectations of $473.94 million.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.065 per share, up from $0.05, reflecting a 2.1% dividend yield.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lessened its holdings in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 45.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,390,244 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,171,118 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec owned 0.47% of TransAlta worth $12,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TAC. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at $822,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 917,886 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,989,000 after purchasing an additional 62,269 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at $346,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake 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 valued at $76,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 183.2% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 271,217 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,835,000 after purchasing an additional 175,465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

TransAlta Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:TAC traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.29. The stock had a trading volume of 524,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,145,743. The business's 50 day moving average is $11.93 and its 200-day moving average is $10.40. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $7.82 and a one year high of $14.64. The company has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.25 and a beta of 0.78.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $451.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.94 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 positive change 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 of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta's payout ratio is currently -45.24%.

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.