Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Purchases 79,000 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 122.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 79,000 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,498,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,242,000 after buying an additional 2,116,907 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its stake in TransAlta by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,145,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,760,000 after purchasing an additional 740,786 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in TransAlta by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,387,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,899,671 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in TransAlta by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,902,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,615,000 after purchasing an additional 98,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in TransAlta by 9.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,618,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,267,000 after purchasing an additional 299,594 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC opened at $10.06 on Tuesday. TransAlta Co. has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $10.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.38 and a 200-day moving average of $7.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.08. TransAlta had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 18.41%. The company had revenue of $425.37 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be given a $0.044 dividend. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.97%.

TransAlta Company 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.