Atb Cap Markets Reduces Earnings Estimates for TransAlta

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) – Equities researchers at Atb Cap Markets reduced their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of TransAlta in a research note issued on Thursday, February 6th. Atb Cap Markets analyst N. Heywood now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings of $0.59 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $0.66. The consensus estimate for TransAlta’s current full-year earnings is $0.54 per share.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Cibc World Mkts cut TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Desjardins reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, CIBC cut shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

TransAlta Price Performance

TransAlta stock opened at $10.74 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.80. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.02 and a beta of 0.83. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.0423 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransAlta

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in TransAlta by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Tobam acquired a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 6.9% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other 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.