Trexquant Investment LP Sells 88,639 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 50.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,135 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 88,639 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TAC. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. Tobam bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 79,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 29,672 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

TransAlta Trading Down 1.5 %

TAC traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.63. The stock had a trading volume of 228,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,139,596. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $9.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 0.72. TransAlta Co. has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. On average, equities analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. TransAlta's payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

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.