TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Key Points

• TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) reported quarterly earnings of $0.13 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations by $0.06.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.065, up from the previous $0.05, reflecting a 2.1% annual yield.
• Hedge funds have shown increased interest, with UBS AM raising its stake in TransAlta by 27.8% during the first quarter.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06, Zacks reports. TransAlta had a net margin of 0.01% and a negative return on equity of 1.64%. The company had revenue of $451.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $473.94 million.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $12.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.52 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.19, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $11.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.30. TransAlta has a one year low of $7.40 and a one year high of $14.64.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a $0.065 dividend. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is -950.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in TransAlta stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 27.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,969 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 45,478 shares during the quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned about 0.07% of TransAlta worth $1,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.83.

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.

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