CIBC Asset Management Inc Sells 1,688,667 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

CIBC Asset Management Inc cut its holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 83.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 328,108 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,688,667 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc owned about 0.11% of TransAlta worth $4,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TAC. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,803 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 3,492 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in TransAlta by 326.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 18,064 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 13,827 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in TransAlta by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 26,207 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 5,008 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in TransAlta by 192.5% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 34,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 22,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in TransAlta during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on TAC shares. 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 report on Tuesday. Desjardins reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, TransAlta currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $19.50.

TransAlta Trading Down 3.6 %

TransAlta stock traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.88. The company had a trading volume of 5,542,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,126,037. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.53 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. TransAlta Co. has a 1 year low of $5.94 and a 1 year high of $14.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $12.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.96.

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

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

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.