Intact Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Intact Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,343,450 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 262,400 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.45% of TransAlta worth $18,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in TAC. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 638.9% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,936,000 after acquiring an additional 6,913,431 shares in the last quarter. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,756,000. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 294,500 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,160,000 after purchasing an additional 46,250 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at $822,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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TransAlta Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of TAC traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $9.58. 792,986 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,011,485. TransAlta Co. has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.15. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35 and a beta of 0.89.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last posted 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 firm 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 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is 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.