TransAlta (TSE:TA) Upgraded at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on TA. TD Securities upped their price target on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. National Bankshares upped their price target on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Desjardins lowered TransAlta from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$16.17.

TransAlta Price Performance

TSE TA opened at C$19.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.05, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. TransAlta has a 1 year low of C$8.22 and a 1 year high of C$19.16. The business’s fifty day moving average is C$14.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$12.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.63%.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In related news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total value of C$377,750.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total transaction of C$1,060,227.30. In the last quarter, insiders sold 175,988 shares of company stock valued at $2,765,921. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.