JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 190,115 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 20,398.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 190,115 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.06% of TransAlta worth $2,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in TransAlta by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,229,823 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $144,680,000 after acquiring an additional 150,554 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in TransAlta by 638.9% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 6,913,431 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in TransAlta by 512.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,870,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,880,000 after purchasing an additional 4,074,395 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $67,038,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $7,139,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC opened at $8.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 0.72. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $6.46 and a 12 month high of $14.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.02. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business 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%. Research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TAC. CIBC upgraded TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four equities research 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.50.

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.

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