Yaupon Capital Management LP Sells 1,980,107 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Yaupon Capital Management LP lessened its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 73.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 705,848 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,980,107 shares during the period. Yaupon Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.24% of TransAlta worth $9,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 281.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 143,062 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 105,562 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $145,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 20,398.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,703,000 after acquiring an additional 190,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of TransAlta by 7.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company's stock.

TransAlta Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of TAC traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $9.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,487,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,146,936. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.98. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $6.51 and a 1-year high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). The company 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TAC. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and cut their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Four equities research 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, TransAlta has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $19.50.

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.