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

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$18.71.

A number of research analysts have commented on TA shares. Desjardins upped their price objective on TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC cut shares of TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

TransAlta Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of TA opened at C$15.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of C$4.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 52 week low of C$8.22 and a 52 week high of C$21.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is C$18.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$14.82.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.18 by C($0.30). TransAlta had a net margin of 19.50% and a return on equity of 32.01%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total transaction of C$1,060,227.30. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.49, for a total value of C$123,920.00. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.