TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $10.47, but opened at $10.69. TransAlta shares last traded at $11.30, with a volume of 540,852 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and cut their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.75.

TransAlta Stock Down 2.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.07 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50-day moving average is $9.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.76. 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 (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $526.69 million during 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, equities analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. raised 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 period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in TransAlta by 48,666.7% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 4,380 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $150,000. Finally, Tobam raised its holdings in TransAlta by 239.2% during the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 10,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 7,717 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.