TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

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

TA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. National Bankshares raised their target price on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Desjardins cut shares of TransAlta from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th.

TransAlta Trading Down 1.3 %

TransAlta stock opened at C$15.02 on Monday. TransAlta has a 52 week low of C$8.22 and a 52 week high of C$15.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 7.91, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$14.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$11.62.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$13.92, for a total value of C$278,400.00. Over the last three months, insiders sold 45,006 shares of company stock valued at $656,223. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.