TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Short Interest Update

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,800,000 shares, a decrease of 15.3% from the February 28th total of 15,120,000 shares. Currently, 4.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,920,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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TransAlta Price Performance

NYSE:TAC traded down $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $8.16. 1,994,193 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,138,755. The company has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.18. TransAlta has a 1 year low of $5.94 and a 1 year high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Sell-side analysts forecast that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's payout ratio is 43.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of TransAlta by 638.9% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,936,000 after purchasing an additional 6,913,431 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at about $67,038,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 512.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,870,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,880,000 after acquiring an additional 4,074,395 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in TransAlta by 280.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $76,211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in TransAlta by 79.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $116,764,000 after acquiring an additional 3,662,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

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.