Brokerages Set TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Target Price at C$16.17

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$16.17.

TA has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. 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 note on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Desjardins cut TransAlta from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total transaction of C$377,750.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total value of C$1,060,227.30. Insiders sold a total of 114,988 shares of company stock valued at $1,716,451 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:TA opened at C$15.55 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, 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$15.61. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of C$14.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$11.73.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.63%.

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.