BMO Capital Markets Raises TransAlta (TSE:TA) Price Target to C$17.00

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) had its target price hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on TA. National Bankshares raised their target price on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. CIBC dropped their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of C$15.43.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TSE:TA opened at C$12.14 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of C$3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.39, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of C$10.77 and a 200 day moving average of C$9.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.62. TransAlta has a 1-year low of C$8.22 and a 1-year high of C$13.24.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.07 by C$0.11. TransAlta had a net margin of 19.50% and a return on equity of 32.01%. The firm had revenue of C$582.00 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that TransAlta will post 0.9761317 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.63%.

Insider Transactions at TransAlta

In related news, Senior Officer Blain Mitchell Van Melle sold 10,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$9.67, for a total transaction of C$96,700.00. In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 41,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$11.30, for a total value of C$467,571.40. Also, Senior Officer Blain Mitchell Van Melle sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$9.67, for a total value of C$96,700.00. In the last quarter, insiders sold 130,211 shares of company stock valued at $1,410,404. Corporate insiders own 0.20% 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.