TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Short Interest Update

by · The Cerbat Gem

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

TransAlta Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of TAC traded down $0.05 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.42. 247,372 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,125,083. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.20. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.0458 dividend. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in TransAlta by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,229,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,680,000 after buying an additional 150,554 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,290,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,222,000 after purchasing an additional 716,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in TransAlta by 79.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,764,000 after purchasing an additional 3,662,900 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in TransAlta by 638.9% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,936,000 after purchasing an additional 6,913,431 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in TransAlta by 280.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,037 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

View Our Latest Stock Report on TAC

TransAlta Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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