Point72 Asset Management L.P. Buys 300,111 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,586,911 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 300,111 shares during the quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned approximately 0.53% of TransAlta worth $22,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in TAC. Tobam bought a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at about $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at about $156,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. CIBC upgraded TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of TransAlta in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $19.75.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TAC traded down $0.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $8.86. 168,849 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,154,034. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $6.78 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The business's 50 day moving average is $9.00 and its 200-day moving average is $10.81.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Equities analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is -900.00%.

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.