Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Invests $147,000 in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $147,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tobam purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth approximately $145,000. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $150,000. Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $156,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $8.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $9.82 and its 200 day moving average is $11.12. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.72.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. Research analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

TransAlta 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.