Bank of Nova Scotia Has $30.38 Million Stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Bank of Nova Scotia lowered its holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,148,673 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 515,196 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.72% of TransAlta worth $30,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wolverine Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the third quarter worth approximately $201,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the third quarter valued at $998,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 27.4% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 29,672 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 6,385 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,812,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 281.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 143,062 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 105,562 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TransAlta Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:TAC traded down $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $8.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 331,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,841,692. The firm has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business's 50-day moving average price is $9.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.10. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $14.64.

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TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The company had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is 43.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TAC has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on TransAlta in a research note on Friday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, CIBC upgraded 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 research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.