TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Short Interest Update

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 15,120,000 shares, an increase of 50.6% from the February 13th total of 10,040,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.8 days.

TransAlta Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of TAC traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $9.69. 1,495,126 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,153,162. The firm has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted 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. Sell-side analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. CIBC upgraded shares of 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. Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its stake in TransAlta by 65.7% in the fourth quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 82,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 32,850 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 69,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,000 after buying an additional 3,499 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth approximately $388,000. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $195,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $497,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

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.