30,280 Shares in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Acquired by Nomura Holdings Inc.

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 30,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $145,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 1,096.2% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 259,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,668,000 after buying an additional 237,584 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in TransAlta by 56.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 28,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 10,211 shares in the last quarter. Tobam acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,439,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of TAC stock opened at $8.88 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.81. The company has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of 21.65 and a beta of 0.71. TransAlta Co. has a fifty-two week low of $6.78 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The firm had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $509.31 million. Equities analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -900.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TAC. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. CIBC raised TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.75.

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.