Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Grows Stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 1,096.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 259,257 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 237,584 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.09% of TransAlta worth $3,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of TransAlta by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,277,000 after buying an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,803 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 3,492 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 23.6% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in TransAlta during the third quarter worth about $61,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on TAC shares. CIBC downgraded TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of TransAlta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Desjardins reissued a "hold" rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, TransAlta has an average rating of "Hold".

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $11.06. The stock had a trading volume of 972,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,950,151. TransAlta Co. has a 1 year low of $5.94 and a 1 year high of $14.64. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $13.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.66. The stock has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.88 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a $0.0423 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. TransAlta's payout ratio is 48.65%.

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.