TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) Receives $24.50 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.50.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Zacks Research raised TransAlta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded TransAlta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th.

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC stock opened at $11.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64. TransAlta has a one year low of $11.38 and a one year high of $17.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of -66.41 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.97.

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

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -111.11%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in TransAlta by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,250,024 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,338,000 after buying an additional 60,658 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 290,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,015,000 after buying an additional 10,957 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 222.0% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 50,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 34,945 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 5.7% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 17,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the second quarter worth $281,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Company Profile

TransAlta Corporation is a Canada-based power generation and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company develops, owns and operates electricity-generating facilities and provides power to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and wholesale markets.

TransAlta’s generation portfolio includes hydroelectric, natural gas, wind, solar and battery storage facilities. The company has also historically operated coal-fired power plants and has been transitioning its generation fleet toward lower-emission sources, including renewable energy and natural gas.