Covalis Capital LLP Makes New Investment in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Covalis Capital LLP acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 283,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,005,000. Covalis Capital LLP owned 0.10% of TransAlta as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tobam acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at about $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Four 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.50.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $8.75. 253,583 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,788,537. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of 21.33 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $6.51 and a 1-year high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. On average, equities analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

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.