TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.04

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of 0.044 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, January 1st. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

TransAlta has increased its dividend by an average of 8.6% annually over the last three years. TransAlta has a dividend payout ratio of 60.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect TransAlta to earn $0.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.17 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.5%.

TransAlta Stock Performance

NYSE:TAC opened at $10.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. TransAlta has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two week high of $11.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38 and a beta of 0.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Desjardins reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

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.