TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Receives $19.50 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.50.

TAC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Friday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th.

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Institutional Trading of TransAlta

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TAC. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the first quarter valued at $207,000. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of TransAlta by 145,600.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 321.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 405,715 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,735,000 after purchasing an additional 309,509 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 65.7% during the fourth quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 82,850 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 32,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 69,004 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,499 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TransAlta Stock Down 3.1 %

NYSE:TAC traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $8.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,070,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,146,851. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 0.72. TransAlta has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $9.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.10.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. Equities analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0458 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. TransAlta's payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

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.