37,980 Shares in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Acquired by BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 37,980 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in TransAlta by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 281.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 143,062 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 105,562 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 190.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 147,669 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 96,856 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $7,139,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TAC. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on TransAlta in a report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.50.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TAC traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $8.54. 3,130,618 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,152,066. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $9.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.92. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $6.78 and a 12 month high of $14.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 20.82 and a beta of 0.71.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released 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). The company had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. Equities research analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

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.