TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Shares Acquired by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 1,279.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 521,534 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 483,713 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned about 0.18% of TransAlta worth $7,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares during the period. Tobam acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in TransAlta by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 79,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 5,593 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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TransAlta Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE TAC traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $9.20. 1,127,851 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,131,061. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $10.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 0.89. TransAlta Co. has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released 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 company had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. Research analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have 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. StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.