TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Short Interest Up 50.6% in February

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 15,120,000 shares, a growth of 50.6% from the February 13th total of 10,040,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.8 days.

TransAlta Stock Up 1.6 %

TransAlta stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $9.69. 1,495,126 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,012,386. The company has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64. The company's fifty day moving average price is $11.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tobam bought a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 3rd quarter valued at about $130,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $145,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $147,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About TransAlta

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.