BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Purchases Shares of 37,980 TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 37,980 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TAC. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 20,398.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,703,000 after acquiring an additional 190,115 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 79,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 5,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at $7,139,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. CIBC raised TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransAlta has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.75.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $8.72. 409,258 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,148,333. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $6.78 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 0.71.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.90%.

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.