TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Desjardins reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

TransAlta Trading Down 3.6 %

TAC stock opened at $10.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $12.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.98. TransAlta has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two week high of $14.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). The company 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransAlta

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TAC. Creative Planning increased its holdings in TransAlta by 6.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 3,492 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in TransAlta by 326.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 18,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 13,827 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 26,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 5,008 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of TransAlta by 192.5% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 34,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 22,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

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.