Intact Investment Management Inc. Has $13.56 Million Stock Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 5.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,912,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 101,200 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.64% of TransAlta worth $13,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,498,451 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $87,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,907 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,145,630 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,760,000 after buying an additional 740,786 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of TransAlta by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,387,290 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $36,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899,671 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,199,245 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $34,612,000 after acquiring an additional 796,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in TransAlta by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,902,599 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,615,000 after purchasing an additional 98,334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $8.80. 321,928 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 810,440. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $7.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.88. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $5.94 and a 12 month high of $9.95.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $425.37 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 18.41%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a $0.044 dividend. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is presently 11.61%.

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.