TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Sets New 52-Week High at $9.99

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.99 and last traded at $9.99, with a volume of 1123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

TransAlta Trading Up 1.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.39.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $425.37 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 18.41%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a $0.044 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in TransAlta by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,498,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,907 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in TransAlta by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,387,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,899,671 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its holdings in TransAlta by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,145,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,760,000 after purchasing an additional 740,786 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in TransAlta by 93.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,525,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,688,000 after purchasing an additional 738,338 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in TransAlta during the first quarter valued at $3,779,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.