Brokerages Set TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Target Price at C$15.43

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$15.43.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, CIBC reduced their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$16.50 to C$15.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Blain Mitchell Van Melle sold 10,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$9.67, for a total value of C$96,700.00. In related news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 41,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$11.30, for a total transaction of C$467,571.40. Also, Senior Officer Blain Mitchell Van Melle sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$9.67, for a total value of C$96,700.00. Insiders sold a total of 110,217 shares of company stock valued at $1,215,520 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

TransAlta Trading Up 0.1 %

TSE TA opened at C$12.41 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$11.05 and its 200 day moving average price is C$9.90. TransAlta has a 12 month low of C$8.22 and a 12 month high of C$12.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of C$3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.90.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.07 by C$0.11. TransAlta had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 19.50%. The company had revenue of C$582.00 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.9761317 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 12.63%.

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.