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

Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 93.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 833,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 402,499 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.28% of TransAlta worth $11,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tobam acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at about $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth approximately $150,000. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on TAC shares. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and lowered their target price for the company 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 research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on TransAlta in a research note on Friday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, TransAlta has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.50.

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TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC traded down $0.14 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.63. 228,355 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,139,596. TransAlta Co. has a one year low of $5.94 and a one year high of $14.64. The stock's fifty day moving average is $9.73 and its 200 day moving average is $11.10. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 0.72.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. As a group, equities analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. 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.