TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$24.13.

TA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$27.00 to C$22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$26.00 to C$27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Desjardins cut their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$19.00 to C$18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. National Bank Financial boosted their price objective on TransAlta from C$18.00 to C$22.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets boosted their price target on TransAlta from C$26.00 to C$27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:TA opened at C$16.22 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$17.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$19.14. The company has a market cap of C$4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.34, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 320.51, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.73. TransAlta has a one year low of C$11.16 and a one year high of C$25.03.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported C($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$712.00 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 8.84% and a negative net margin of 5.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$17.46, for a total transaction of C$87,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 113,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,989,619.38. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About TransAlta

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.