Analysts Set TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Target Price at C$17.08

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$17.08.

TA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Securities lifted their price target on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their price objective on TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th.

TransAlta Stock Up 0.3 %

TransAlta stock opened at C$20.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$15.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$12.79. TransAlta has a one year low of C$8.22 and a one year high of C$20.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 35,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$20.73, for a total value of C$729,260.67. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670. Insiders own 0.21% 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.