Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 47,768 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 866,470 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 47,768 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.29% of TransAlta worth $12,249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TAC. Tobam bought a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth approximately $145,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TAC traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 846,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,016,534. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta Co. has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

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TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TAC shares. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. CIBC upgraded TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.50.

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.