TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$25.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TA shares. ATB Cormark Capital Markets set a C$28.00 price target on shares of TransAlta and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$24.00 price objective on TransAlta and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. National Bank Financial boosted their target price on TransAlta from C$22.00 to C$24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, TD set a C$26.00 target price on TransAlta and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th.

TransAlta Trading Up 1.8%

TSE:TA opened at C$16.55 on Friday. TransAlta has a 12-month low of C$15.62 and a 12-month high of C$25.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 238.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$18.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$18.16. The firm has a market cap of C$5.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -53.39, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.69.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$507.00 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 1.02% and a negative return on equity of 1.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransAlta

In other news, insider Michael Politeski bought 10,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$17.77 per share, for a total transaction of C$177,700.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,510,450. This trade represents a 13.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. Insiders acquired 20,450 shares of company stock valued at $381,348 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Company Profile

TransAlta owns, operates and develops a diverse fleet of electrical power generation assets in Canada, the United States and Australia with a focus on long-term shareholder value. TransAlta provides municipalities, medium and large industries, businesses and utility customers with affordable, energy efficient and reliable power. Today, TransAlta is one of Canada’s largest producers of wind power and Alberta’s largest producer of thermal generation and hydro-electric power. For over 114 years, TransAlta has been a responsible operator and a proud member of the communities where we operate and where our employees work and live.