Fmr LLC Purchases 3,662,900 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Fmr LLC increased its position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 79.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,662,900 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $116,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TAC shares. CIBC raised TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of TransAlta in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.50.

TransAlta Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of TAC opened at $8.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37 and a beta of 0.72. TransAlta Co. has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released 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 company 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%. Equities research analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. 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 dividend payout ratio 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.