TransAlta (TSE:TA) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by CIBC

CIBC lowered shares of TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has C$23.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of C$17.00.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Desjardins lifted their target price 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 raised their price objective on TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank raised shares of TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransAlta currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$18.33.

TransAlta Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of TSE:TA opened at C$19.08 on Wednesday. TransAlta has a one year low of C$8.22 and a one year high of C$20.98. The stock has a market capitalization of C$5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.04, 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 current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$17.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$13.63.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransAlta

In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total value of C$377,750.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 35,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$20.73, for a total value of C$729,260.67. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock valued at $3,478,670. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

TransAlta Company Profile

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.