TransAlta (TSE:TA) Raised to Moderate Buy at Desjardins

Desjardins upgraded shares of TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) to a moderate buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on TA. National Bankshares lifted 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 note on Friday, August 23rd. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, CIBC lowered their price objective on 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of C$15.50.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TransAlta stock opened at C$14.36 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is C$13.26 and its 200 day moving average price is C$11.01. The company has a market cap of C$4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84. TransAlta has a one year low of C$8.22 and a one year high of C$14.75.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.07 by C$0.11. The business had revenue of C$582.00 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 19.50%.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 12.63%.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In other TransAlta news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$13.92, for a total transaction of C$278,400.00. In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 20,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$13.92, for a total value of C$278,400.00. Also, Senior Officer Kerry Lynn O’reilly sold 48,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$10.99, for a total value of C$536,674.67. In the last quarter, insiders sold 120,217 shares of company stock worth $1,397,220. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Company Profile

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.