DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 10,865 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale trimmed its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 48.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,865 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $81,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of TransAlta by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 640,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,543,000 after buying an additional 52,328 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of TransAlta by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,618,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,267,000 after acquiring an additional 299,594 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,912,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,557,000 after purchasing an additional 101,200 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 2nd quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 173.4% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 21,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 13,444 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TransAlta Stock Up 5.4 %

Shares of NYSE:TAC opened at $9.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 0.91. TransAlta Co. has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $9.90.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. TransAlta had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 18.41%. The business had revenue of $425.37 million for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st will be given a $0.044 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 10.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th.

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.