Fmr LLC Raises Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

FMR LLC grew its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 79.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,662,900 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned approximately 2.77% of TransAlta worth $116,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Tobam acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at about $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Cibc World Mkts upgraded TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC raised TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.50.

TransAlta Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of TAC stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $8.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,025,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,147,020. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. TransAlta Co. has a 1-year low of $6.36 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25 and a beta of 0.72. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $9.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.04.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. On average, research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's payout ratio 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.