TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,380,000 shares, a decrease of 19.1% from the September 30th total of 4,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 756,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 192.5% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 34,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 22,431 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in TransAlta by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 26,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 5,008 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in TransAlta by 326.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 18,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 13,827 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in TransAlta by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 3,492 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Trading Up 4.1 %

TransAlta stock traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.50. 1,021,922 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 745,335. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.75. TransAlta has a 52-week low of $5.94 and a 52-week high of $10.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 0.92.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. TransAlta had a net margin of 18.41% and a return on equity of 47.71%. The company had revenue of $425.37 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.044 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on TAC. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Desjardins assumed coverage on TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating on the 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.