Guardian Partners Inc. Buys New Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 79,328 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,052,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in TransAlta by 512.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,870,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,880,000 after purchasing an additional 4,074,395 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at about $270,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $270,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $9.41. 1,019,235 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,017,366. TransAlta Co. has a 1 year low of $5.94 and a 1 year high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The firm's 50-day moving average is $10.70 and its 200 day moving average is $11.17.

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

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business 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 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TAC. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC raised TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and decreased their target price 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, Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $19.50.

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.