TransAlta Corporation (TAC) – What Are Analysts Saying About This Stock?

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.50.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on TAC shares. Weiss Ratings raised TransAlta from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised TransAlta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Friday, July 17th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TAC. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in TransAlta in the second quarter valued at $123,434,000. Sculptor Capital LP acquired a new position in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $37,958,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the first quarter worth $34,128,000. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of TransAlta during the second quarter valued at $31,799,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of TransAlta during the second quarter valued at $28,349,000. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $13.01 on Tuesday. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $11.38 and a 12-month high of $17.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.25 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $342.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $379.54 million. TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 8.85% and a negative net margin of 2.76%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st were issued a dividend of C$0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 1st. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently -111.11%.

About TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation is a Canada-based power generation and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of electricity-generating facilities, including hydroelectric, wind, solar, natural gas and coal-fired power assets.

TransAlta supplies electricity to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and wholesale markets. Its activities include power generation, energy marketing, asset management and the development of renewable energy projects.