TransAlta (TSE:TA) Cut to Hold at Cibc World Mkts

Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. CIBC cut shares of TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research report on Wednesday. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$18.33.

TransAlta Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of TransAlta stock opened at C$19.12 on Wednesday. TransAlta has a 1 year low of C$8.22 and a 1 year high of C$20.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of C$5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is C$17.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$13.74.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 12.63%.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In other news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total value of C$1,060,227.30. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.49, for a total transaction of C$123,920.00. 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 corporate 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.