Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 58,118 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $822,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tobam acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in TransAlta in the third quarter worth $61,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $145,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at about $156,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC opened at $8.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $10.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.89 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta Co. has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. On average, equities analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.