TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 252,905 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 31,717 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.08% of TransAlta worth $3,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 5.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Tobam purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 79,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 56.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 28,275 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 10,211 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on TAC. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on TransAlta in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, CIBC raised TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $19.50.

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $9.01. 1,135,905 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,146,892. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $9.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98 and a beta of 0.72. TransAlta Co. has a fifty-two week low of $6.51 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The firm 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%. Research analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.