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

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$18.33.

TA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. CIBC lowered shares of TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Securities raised 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In other TransAlta news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.49, for a total value of C$123,920.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 35,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$20.73, for a total transaction of C$729,260.67. Insiders sold 204,763 shares of company stock valued at $3,478,670 over the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TA opened at C$20.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of C$6.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is C$17.92 and its 200-day moving average is C$14.10. 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 has a 12 month low of C$8.22 and a 12 month high of C$20.98.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.63%.

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.