American Century Companies Inc. Raises Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 512.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,870,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 4,074,395 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 1.64% of TransAlta worth $68,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its position in TransAlta by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,622,961 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $58,254,000 after acquiring an additional 935,803 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 9.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,593,023 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,613,000 after purchasing an additional 408,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the third quarter worth approximately $998,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta in the third quarter worth $518,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,812,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

TransAlta Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:TAC traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $9.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,123,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,126,452. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $10.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. TransAlta Co. has a 1 year low of $5.94 and a 1 year high of $14.64.

Remove Ads

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

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company 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 is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. TransAlta's payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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