State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Sells 122,539 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury cut its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 87.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,164 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 122,539 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in TransAlta were worth $257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of TransAlta by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,229,823 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $144,680,000 after purchasing an additional 150,554 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of TransAlta by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,290,110 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $131,222,000 after buying an additional 716,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 79.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $116,764,000 after acquiring an additional 3,662,900 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 638.9% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,936,000 after acquiring an additional 6,913,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in TransAlta by 512.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,870,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $68,880,000 after acquiring an additional 4,074,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on TAC shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on TransAlta in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $19.75.

TransAlta Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:TAC traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $8.67. 1,323,619 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,151,827. 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 has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.15 and a beta of 0.71. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $9.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.89. TransAlta Co. has a one year low of $6.78 and a one year high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Equities analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is 43.90%.

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.