Janus Henderson Group PLC Acquires New Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Janus Henderson Group PLC 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 104,287 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,472,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in TransAlta by 638.9% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,936,000 after acquiring an additional 6,913,431 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $67,038,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in TransAlta by 512.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,870,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,880,000 after purchasing an additional 4,074,395 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in TransAlta by 280.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $76,211,000 after buying an additional 3,969,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in TransAlta by 79.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $116,764,000 after buying an additional 3,662,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

TransAlta Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE TAC traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.68. 320,730 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,164,407. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $6.78 and a 12 month high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62 and a beta of 0.71. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.78.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $526.69 million during 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 expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on TransAlta in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TransAlta currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.75.

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.