Renaissance Technologies LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Renaissance Technologies LLC decreased its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,693,300 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 37,100 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.57% of TransAlta worth $23,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Tobam acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $156,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TransAlta stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,070,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,147,256. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. TransAlta Co. has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64.

Remove Ads

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business 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, analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a $0.0458 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TAC shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on TransAlta in a research report on Friday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.50.

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.