TransAlta (TAC) Expected to Announce Earnings on Thursday

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA is expected to release its earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, February 20th. Analysts expect TransAlta to post earnings of $0.12 per share for the quarter. Persons interested in participating in the company's earnings conference call can do so using this link.

TransAlta Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of TAC traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.50. The stock had a trading volume of 794,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,902,395. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.37 and a beta of 0.83. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $12.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.91. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $5.94 and a 12-month high of $14.64.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a $0.0423 dividend. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. TransAlta's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TAC. CIBC lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Desjardins reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Cibc World Mkts lowered TransAlta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold".

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.