Private Advisor Group LLC Invests $150,000 in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 10,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $150,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tobam acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the third quarter worth about $61,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $145,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the third quarter worth about $130,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the third quarter worth about $194,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TAC opened at $9.32 on Friday. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.09.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. As a group, analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.50.

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.