Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 34,996 Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA by 38.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,568 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 34,996 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in TransAlta were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC increased its stake in TransAlta by 281.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 143,062 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 105,562 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 2.1% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in TransAlta by 190.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 147,669 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,550,000 after buying an additional 96,856 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $7,139,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in TransAlta in the fourth quarter worth $145,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Trading Up 1.5 %

TAC stock opened at $8.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. TransAlta Co. has a 12 month low of $6.46 and a 12 month high of $14.64. The firm's 50-day moving average is $9.48 and its 200 day moving average is $11.02.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its earnings results 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 company 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a $0.0458 dividend. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TAC. CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" 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.

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