TransAlta’s (TAC) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Desjardins

Desjardins reiterated their hold rating on shares of TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports.

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th.

TransAlta Stock Down 2.3 %

NYSE:TAC opened at $10.30 on Wednesday. TransAlta has a one year low of $5.94 and a one year high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.29.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a $0.044 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 45.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TAC. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. bought a new position in TransAlta during the third quarter worth $2,573,000. Metis Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 3rd quarter worth about $360,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the third quarter worth approximately $130,000. Finally, Tacita Capital Inc increased its holdings in TransAlta by 11.7% in the third quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 245,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,544,000 after purchasing an additional 25,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

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.