Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $1.23 Million Stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 50.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 87,929 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in TransAlta were worth $1,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Tobam bought a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 69,004 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,499 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 126,761 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 4,140 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in TransAlta by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 147,703 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,090,000 after acquiring an additional 4,641 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.36. 2,341,012 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,206,766. The stock's 50-day moving average is $9.03 and its 200-day moving average is $10.77. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 0.74. TransAlta Co. has a 52 week low of $6.78 and a 52 week high of $14.64.

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

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.