Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 12,461 TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 12,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $134,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TAC. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 145,600.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 48,666.7% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,380 shares during the period. Tobam boosted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 239.2% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 10,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 7,717 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 1st quarter worth approximately $119,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 1st quarter worth approximately $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Scotiabank raised TransAlta from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, July 18th. National Bankshares reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised TransAlta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $19.88.

TransAlta Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE TAC opened at $13.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a PE ratio of -32.52 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98. TransAlta Corporation has a twelve month low of $7.82 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.78.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $451.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.94 million. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 2.06% and a negative net margin of 6.79%. Analysts expect that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be given a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is presently -45.24%.

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.