TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Increases Dividend to $0.05 Per Share

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.0458 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04.

TransAlta has raised its dividend by an average of 8.8% per year over the last three years. TransAlta has a dividend payout ratio of 106.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect TransAlta to earn $0.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.17 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.6%.

TransAlta Stock Performance

NYSE:TAC traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.63. 2,273,117 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,191,546. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $12.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.92 and a beta of 0.83. TransAlta has a one year low of $5.94 and a one year high of $14.64.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on TAC shares. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. CIBC raised TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Desjardins reissued a "hold" rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $19.50.

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.