TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.3333.

A number of research firms recently commented on TAC. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. National Bank Financial raised shares of TransAlta from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of TransAlta from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

TransAlta Trading Up 1.1%

TransAlta stock opened at $13.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $12.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.31. TransAlta has a 52 week low of $8.73 and a 52 week high of $17.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.61, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.07 and a beta of 0.66.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.03. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 9.46% and a positive return on equity of 9.52%. The firm had revenue of $406.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.36 million. Research analysts forecast that TransAlta will post 0.26 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -35.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransAlta

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 11,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 882 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 48,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 893 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 52,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 16,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

About TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation, originally founded in 1909 as Calgary Power Company Ltd., is a publicly traded energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and transmission assets. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, TransAlta has grown from its early hydroelectric roots into a diversified energy provider with a multi-fuel generating fleet.

The company’s core business activities encompass power generation, asset management and energy trading services.