TransAlta (TSE:TA) Stock Price Down 14.9% - Should You Sell?

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA - Get Free Report) NYSE: TAC's stock price 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 traded hands during 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 Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on TA. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC lowered TransAlta from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Securities increased their price objective on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TransAlta currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of C$18.33.

TransAlta Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$18.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$14.58. The firm has a market cap of C$4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

TransAlta (TSE:TA - Get Free Report) NYSE: TAC last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.18 by C($0.30). TransAlta had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 19.50%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share.

Insider Transactions at TransAlta

In other TransAlta news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.49, for a total transaction of C$123,920.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total value of C$1,060,227.30. Insiders sold 204,763 shares of company stock valued at $3,478,670 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.