TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Sets New 12-Month Low at $5.95

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $5.95 and last traded at $5.96, with a volume of 127032 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th.

TransAlta Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.06, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $6.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.48.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.30). TransAlta had a net margin of 20.05% and a return on equity of 48.42%. The business had revenue of $624.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $305.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.45) EPS. TransAlta’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransAlta

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in TransAlta by 1.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 43,966,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $455,494,000 after acquiring an additional 812,221 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in TransAlta by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,498,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,907 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in TransAlta by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,370,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,007,000 after acquiring an additional 149,378 shares during the period. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP grew its position in TransAlta by 16.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 740,786 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

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.