EAM Investors LLC Makes New Investment in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

EAM Investors LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 98,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,398,000.

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

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $8.63 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.63 and its 200-day moving average is $11.07. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $6.14 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.05 and a beta of 0.72.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share 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 during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS 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 issued a $0.0458 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TAC. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

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.