Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Has $754,000 Stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lessened its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 78.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 52,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 188,200 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 20.0% during the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,622,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,254,000 after purchasing an additional 935,803 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in TransAlta by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,593,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,613,000 after acquiring an additional 408,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $998,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of TransAlta during the third quarter valued at $1,812,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC opened at $9.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.15. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $5.94 and a 12 month high of $14.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.62 and a beta of 0.89.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. As a group, analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. 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.