Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Increases Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 122.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 143,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 79,000 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ's holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $87,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,907 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its stake in TransAlta by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,145,630 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,760,000 after buying an additional 740,786 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,387,290 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $36,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899,671 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,902,599 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,615,000 after acquiring an additional 98,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 9.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,618,296 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,267,000 after acquiring an additional 299,594 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.23. 798,670 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 746,874. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 0.91. TransAlta Co. has a 1 year low of $5.94 and a 1 year high of $10.26. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $8.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. TransAlta had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 47.71%. The business had revenue of $425.37 million for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.044 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is 10.97%.

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.