Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $800,000 Stock Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 38.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 56,568 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 34,996 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in TransAlta were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,524 shares during the period. Tobam acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 5,593 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 28,275 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 10,211 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $19.50.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TAC traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $9.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,135,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,146,892. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98 and a beta of 0.72. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $9.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.98. 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 results 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 business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.0458 dividend. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

About TransAlta

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.