Scotia Capital Inc. Has $8.19 Million Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Scotia Capital Inc. decreased its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 31.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 581,325 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 267,211 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of TransAlta worth $8,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TAC. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at $822,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in TransAlta by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,290,110 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $131,222,000 after purchasing an additional 716,139 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of TransAlta by 79.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $116,764,000 after acquiring an additional 3,662,900 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of TransAlta by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,597 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 12,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,913,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on TAC shares. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.50.

TransAlta Stock Performance

NYSE TAC traded up $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $8.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 277,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,143,897. TransAlta Co. has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.17 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.