Analysts Set TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Price Target at C$17.08

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$17.08.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on TA shares. Desjardins lifted their price target on TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TSE TA opened at C$20.42 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$16.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$12.92. The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87. TransAlta has a 52-week low of C$8.22 and a 52-week high of C$20.98.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 45,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$17.67, for a total value of C$795,150.00. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 3,602 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$18.84, for a total transaction of C$67,861.68. Over the last ninety days, insiders 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.