TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Raised to Strong-Buy at Cibc World Mkts

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA was upgraded by investment analysts at Cibc World Mkts from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on TAC. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Desjardins restated a "hold" rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, TransAlta has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.50.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of TransAlta stock traded down $0.41 on Tuesday, hitting $10.88. 5,542,753 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,180,275. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.39 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. TransAlta has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.96.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $484.60 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 5.72% and a return on equity of 17.46%. Research analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in TransAlta by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,229,823 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $144,680,000 after buying an additional 150,554 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in TransAlta by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,290,110 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $131,222,000 after buying an additional 716,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in TransAlta by 79.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $116,764,000 after buying an additional 3,662,900 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in TransAlta by 638.9% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,995,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,936,000 after buying an additional 6,913,431 shares during the period. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its stake in TransAlta by 20.0% during the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,622,961 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $58,254,000 after buying an additional 935,803 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.