O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) by 1,279.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 521,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 483,713 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned 0.18% of TransAlta worth $7,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 2.1% in 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 period. Tobam purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 7.5% in the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the third quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC opened at $9.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06 and a beta of 0.89. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $10.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.20.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Equities analysts predict that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a positive change from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on TAC. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. 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 raised shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” 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.