TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA - Get Free Report) NYSE: TAC have been given an average rating of "Buy" by the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$17.08.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Desjardins raised their target price on TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research report on Monday.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TA stock traded down C$0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching C$19.89. The stock had a trading volume of 3,325,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,140,140. TransAlta has a one year low of C$8.22 and a one year high of C$20.98. The firm has a market cap of C$5.93 billion, a PE ratio of 10.47, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is C$15.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$12.60. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. TransAlta's payout ratio is currently 12.63%.

Insider Transactions at TransAlta

In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$13.92, for a total transaction of C$278,400.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total transaction of C$1,060,227.30. In the last three months, insiders sold 224,763 shares of company stock worth $3,757,070. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.