Man Group plc Purchases Shares of 1,419,091 TransAlta Corporation $TAC

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,419,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,626,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its holdings in TransAlta by 32.9% during the second quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 15,948,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,084,000 after acquiring an additional 3,948,451 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at $45,298,000. Sculptor Capital LP bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,958,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of TransAlta by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,295,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $168,163,000 after acquiring an additional 2,870,026 shares during the period. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 1st quarter worth about $34,128,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. TD Cowen started coverage on TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Zacks Research raised TransAlta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.50.

TransAlta Price Performance

TransAlta stock opened at $12.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.41 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64. TransAlta Corporation has a 12 month low of $11.38 and a 12 month high of $17.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $13.20 and its 200-day moving average is $13.14.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $342.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $379.54 million. TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 8.85% and a negative net margin of 2.76%. Equities research analysts expect that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -111.11%.

TransAlta Profile

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.