TransAlta (TSE:TA) Stock Price Down 14.9% - Here's What Happened

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA - Get Free Report) NYSE: TAC shares traded down 14.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as C$16.26 and last traded at C$16.47. 836,079 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 2,042,685 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$19.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TA. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Desjardins upped their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities lifted their price objective on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, CIBC cut TransAlta from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of C$18.33.

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TransAlta Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$18.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$14.50. 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 (TSE:TA - Get Free Report) NYSE: TAC last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of C$0.18 by C($0.30). TransAlta had a net margin of 19.50% and a return on equity of 32.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total transaction of C$377,750.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 35,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$20.73, for a total value of C$729,260.67. Insiders sold a total of 204,763 shares of company stock valued at $3,478,670 over the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.