TransAlta (TSE:TA) Sets New 52-Week High at $13.60

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$13.60 and last traded at C$13.60, with a volume of 105297 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$13.29.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on TA. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. National Bankshares boosted their target price on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, CIBC lowered their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$16.50 to C$15.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, TransAlta has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$15.43.

TransAlta Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$11.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$10.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87. The stock has a market cap of C$4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.90.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.07 by C$0.11. The business had revenue of C$582.00 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 19.50% and a return on equity of 32.01%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Co. will post 0.4504537 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is 12.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Kerry Lynn O’reilly sold 48,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$10.99, for a total transaction of C$536,674.67. In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$11.45, for a total value of C$114,500.00. Also, Senior Officer Kerry Lynn O’reilly sold 48,833 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$10.99, for a total value of C$536,674.67. In the last quarter, insiders sold 100,217 shares of company stock worth $1,118,820. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

TransAlta Company 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.