TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Free Report) TSE: TA from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on TAC. CIBC raised TransAlta from a "neutral" rating to an "outperformer" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded TransAlta from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded TransAlta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.75.

TransAlta Stock Down 2.7%

NYSE TAC traded down $0.31 on Thursday, reaching $11.10. The stock had a trading volume of 2,592,844 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,249,079. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. TransAlta has a 1 year low of $6.78 and a 1 year high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.07 and a beta of 0.74.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC - Get Free Report) TSE: TA last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $526.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $509.31 million. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%. On average, analysts forecast that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 145,600.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 69,004 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,499 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 126,761 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 4,140 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of TransAlta by 48,666.7% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,389 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 4,380 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company's stock.

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.