TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from seven analysts, with an average price target of $19.875.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.065, up from $0.05, reflecting a 1.9% yield.
• In Q2, TransAlta reported earnings of $0.13 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.07, although its revenue was below expectations at $451.20 million.

Shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA have been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.8750.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TAC. Scotiabank raised shares of TransAlta from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, July 18th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 price objective (up previously from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. National Bankshares restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised TransAlta from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransAlta

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth $195,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth about $388,000. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 145,600.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta during the 1st quarter worth about $207,000. Finally, Tobam increased its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 239.2% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 10,943 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 7,717 shares during the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TransAlta Price Performance

TAC stock opened at $13.71 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $12.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.83. TransAlta has a 12-month low of $7.82 and a 12-month high of $14.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98. The company has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of -32.63 and a beta of 0.79.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $451.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.94 million. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 2.06% and a negative net margin of 6.79%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st were paid a $0.065 dividend. This is an increase from TransAlta's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. TransAlta's payout ratio is presently -42.86%.

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.

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