TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$15.43.

TA has been the subject of a number of research reports. National Bankshares upped their price objective on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, CIBC dropped their target price on TransAlta from C$16.50 to C$15.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd.

TransAlta Price Performance

TA opened at C$14.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$12.20 and a 200-day moving average price of C$10.38. TransAlta has a 12-month low of C$8.22 and a 12-month high of C$14.49. 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 capitalization of C$4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.63, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.90.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.07 by C$0.11. TransAlta had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 19.50%. The firm had revenue of C$582.00 million during the quarter. Equities analysts predict that TransAlta will post 0.4475209 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is 12.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 20,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$13.92, for a total value of C$278,400.00. In other news, Senior Officer Kerry Lynn O’reilly sold 48,833 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$10.99, for a total value of C$536,674.67. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 20,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$13.92, for a total value of C$278,400.00. Insiders have sold a total of 120,217 shares of company stock worth $1,397,220 in the last ninety days. 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.