O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 1,279.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 521,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 483,713 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in TransAlta were worth $7,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TAC. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in TransAlta by 638.9% during 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 buying an additional 6,913,431 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at about $67,038,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,074,395 shares during the period. Yaupon Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 69.9% in the third quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 2,685,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,840,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,139,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $9.46 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $10.41 and its 200 day moving average is $11.20. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. Research analysts expect that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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