Financial Management Professionals Inc. Buys Shares of 4,087 TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in TransAlta by 1,381.5% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 3,951 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the second quarter valued at $64,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the first quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the second quarter valued at $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th.

TransAlta Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:TAC opened at $10.16 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43. TransAlta Co. has a 52-week low of $5.94 and a 52-week high of $10.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 0.92.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. TransAlta had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 18.41%. The firm had revenue of $425.37 million for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.044 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

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.