618,976 Shares in TransAlta Corporation $TAC Purchased by Jain Global LLC

Jain Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 618,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,450,000. Jain Global LLC owned about 0.21% of TransAlta at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in TransAlta during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,395,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in TransAlta by 19.5% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 70,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 11,532 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 2.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,949,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,569,000 after purchasing an additional 248,027 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 15.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 10,425,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $142,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenland Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 107.8% during the second quarter. Greenland Capital Management LP now owns 181,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after purchasing an additional 93,976 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on TAC shares. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. National Bank Financial downgraded TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TransAlta has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.00.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC opened at $12.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $12.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.54, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.54 and a beta of 0.77. TransAlta Corporation has a one year low of $7.82 and a one year high of $17.88.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.09). TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 10.00% and a negative net margin of 7.51%.The business had revenue of $436.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $493.39 million. As a group, research analysts predict that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.55%.

TransAlta Company Profile

TransAlta Corporation, originally founded in 1909 as Calgary Power Company Ltd., is a publicly traded energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and transmission assets. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, TransAlta has grown from its early hydroelectric roots into a diversified energy provider with a multi-fuel generating fleet.

The company’s core business activities encompass power generation, asset management and energy trading services.