Alliancebernstein L.P. Buys 402,499 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 93.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 833,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 402,499 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.28% of TransAlta worth $11,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 321.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 405,715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,735,000 after acquiring an additional 309,509 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 1,279.0% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 521,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,367,000 after acquiring an additional 483,713 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $943,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth about $147,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 20,398.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,703,000 after acquiring an additional 190,115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Stock Up 8.0 %

TAC stock opened at $8.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.87 and a 200-day moving average of $11.13. TransAlta Co. has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly 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). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The company had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is 43.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. CIBC upgraded TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.50.

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.