TransAlta (TSE:TA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$16.39 and last traded at C$16.38, with a volume of 213033 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$16.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. TD Securities boosted their price target on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Desjardins downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, National Bankshares raised their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$16.17.

TransAlta Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.61, 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$14.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$11.88.

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 paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 12.63%.

Insider Transactions at TransAlta

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 value of C$377,750.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total value of C$1,060,227.30. Insiders sold a total of 130,988 shares of company stock worth $1,970,771 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.