Royal Bank of Canada Sells 114,506 Shares of TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its holdings in shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 25,307,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 114,506 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.08% of TransAlta worth $331,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in TransAlta by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,428,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,709,000 after purchasing an additional 217,200 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,448,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of TransAlta by 23.8% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,338,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,595,000 after buying an additional 257,356 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 6.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,629,540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,343,000 after buying an additional 91,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 8.7% in the first quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 11,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of TransAlta from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank upgraded TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransAlta presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.00.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TAC opened at $12.46 on Thursday. TransAlta Corporation has a 52 week low of $11.38 and a 52 week high of $17.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.08 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.61.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $406.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.36 million. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 9.46% and a positive return on equity of 9.52%. On average, analysts expect that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -37.04%.

About TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation, originally founded in 1909 as Calgary Power Company Ltd., is a publicly traded energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and transmission assets. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, TransAlta has grown from its early hydroelectric roots into a diversified energy provider with a multi-fuel generating fleet.

The company’s core business activities encompass power generation, asset management and energy trading services.