Analysts Set TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) PT at $19.88

Shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.8750.

Several equities analysts recently commented on TAC shares. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. National Bankshares reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective (up previously from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th.

TransAlta Price Performance

NYSE:TAC opened at $17.62 on Tuesday. TransAlta has a one year low of $7.82 and a one year high of $17.88. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.94 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $14.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 6.79% and a negative return on equity of 2.06%. The firm had revenue of $451.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.94 million. Equities analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 1st. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransAlta

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 1,150.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 904,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,456,000 after buying an additional 832,000 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 1st quarter worth approximately $638,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,200,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,056,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 25.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 70,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $661,000 after purchasing an additional 14,256 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

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.