TransAlta (TSE:TA) Sets New 1-Year High at $12.64

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$12.64 and last traded at C$12.60, with a volume of 145824 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$12.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TA. National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, CIBC lowered their target price on TransAlta from C$16.50 to C$15.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$15.43.

TransAlta Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of C$3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$11.12 and a 200-day moving average of C$9.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.4504537 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.63%.

Insider Transactions at TransAlta

In other news, Senior Officer Kerry Lynn O’reilly sold 48,833 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$10.99, for a total value of C$536,674.67. In other TransAlta news, Senior Officer Kerry Lynn O’reilly sold 48,833 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$10.99, for a total transaction of C$536,674.67. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$11.45, for a total transaction of C$114,500.00. Insiders sold a total of 100,217 shares of company stock worth $1,118,820 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.