TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,800,000 shares, a decrease of 15.3% from the February 28th total of 15,120,000 shares. Approximately 4.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,920,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on TAC. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.50.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TransAlta stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.42. The company had a trading volume of 247,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,125,083. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average is $10.41 and its 200-day moving average is $11.20. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a $0.0458 dividend. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in TransAlta by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. Tobam acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in TransAlta by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 69,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 3,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 147,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,090,000 after buying an additional 4,641 shares during the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About TransAlta

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.