Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 58,118 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $822,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tobam bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TransAlta presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.75.

TransAlta Stock Up 1.9 %

TAC traded up $0.16 on Friday, reaching $8.67. 1,323,619 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,150,671. TransAlta Co. has a 52-week low of $6.78 and a 52-week high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15 and a beta of 0.71. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.89.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last posted its quarterly 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). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The company had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $509.31 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TransAlta Co. 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 Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.90%.

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.