68,300 Shares in TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) Bought by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 68,300 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $638,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in TransAlta by 638.9% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,936,000 after purchasing an additional 6,913,431 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,038,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in TransAlta by 512.0% in the fourth 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 raised its position in TransAlta by 280.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $76,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,037 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in TransAlta by 79.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $116,764,000 after purchasing an additional 3,662,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

TransAlta Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:TAC traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 519,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,275,258. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.60. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of -544.23 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.19, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.84. TransAlta Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $6.78 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 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 analyst estimates of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 1.64% and a net margin of 0.01%. As a group, research analysts expect that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised TransAlta from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned 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 Company 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.