Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Takes $67.04 Million Position in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,746,051 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $67,038,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned 1.59% of TransAlta as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 9.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,593,023 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,613,000 after buying an additional 408,184 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in TransAlta during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in TransAlta in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,031,000. Potrero Capital Research LLC bought a new position in TransAlta in the 3rd quarter valued at $5,088,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 3rd quarter valued at $518,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.50.

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TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TAC traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $9.46. 694,038 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,128,529. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $10.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta Co. has a 52-week low of $5.94 and a 52-week high of $14.64. 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 (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

TransAlta 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.