Millennium Management LLC Has $77.83 Million Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Millennium Management LLC trimmed its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 34.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,505,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,890,679 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $77,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tobam bought a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on TAC shares. Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.75.

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC opened at $8.98 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90 and a beta of 0.71. 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 50-day moving average price of $9.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.87. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $6.78 and a twelve month high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $526.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Equities analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently -900.00%.

About TransAlta

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.