EAM Investors LLC Invests $1.40 Million in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

EAM Investors LLC purchased a new stake in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 98,871 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,398,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $4,352,000. Mariner LLC lifted its position in TransAlta by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 74,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 8,250 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in TransAlta by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 147,703 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,090,000 after purchasing an additional 4,641 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $822,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in TransAlta by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,290,110 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $131,222,000 after buying an additional 716,139 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC traded up $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $8.58. The stock had a trading volume of 83,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,141,858. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.52 and a 200-day moving average of $11.03. TransAlta Co. has a fifty-two week low of $6.36 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 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. Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.