Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 309,509 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 321.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 405,715 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 309,509 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.14% of TransAlta worth $5,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tobam acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $150,000. Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $156,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $167,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company's stock.

TransAlta Stock Up 0.7%

TAC stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $10.36. The stock had a trading volume of 2,341,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,208,599. TransAlta Co. has a one year low of $6.78 and a one year high of $14.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company's 50 day moving average is $9.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.77. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 0.74.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. The firm had revenue of $526.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $509.31 million. Equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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