TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Receives C$18.33 Average Target Price from Analysts

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$18.33.

TA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC downgraded TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Desjardins boosted their price target on TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TransAlta news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the business’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 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$17.67, for a total value of C$795,150.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Trading Up 1.0 %

TA opened at C$20.89 on Tuesday. TransAlta has a twelve month low of C$8.22 and a twelve month high of C$21.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$18.05 and a 200-day moving average of C$14.21. The stock has a market cap of C$6.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s payout ratio 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.