Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Purchases 32,850 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. raised its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 65.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 32,850 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tobam acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. CIBC raised TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on TransAlta in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised 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 issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.75.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TransAlta stock opened at $9.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 0.71. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $6.78 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.03 and its 200 day moving average is $10.85. 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) (TSE:TA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently -900.00%.

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.