Brokerages Set TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) Price Target at $24.50

Shares of TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.50.

TAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Monday, August 3rd. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank raised shares of TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of TransAlta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TAC. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the second quarter worth $281,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the second quarter valued at about $28,581,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of TransAlta in the second quarter valued at about $1,267,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 2nd quarter worth about $306,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in TransAlta during the 2nd quarter worth about $123,434,000. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TransAlta stock opened at $12.20 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.13. TransAlta has a 52-week low of $11.38 and a 52-week high of $17.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -67.77 and a beta of 0.70.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 8.85% and a negative net margin of 2.76%.The company had revenue of $342.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $379.54 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -111.11%.

About TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation, originally founded in 1909 as Calgary Power Company Ltd., is a publicly traded energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and transmission assets. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, TransAlta has grown from its early hydroelectric roots into a diversified energy provider with a multi-fuel generating fleet.

The company’s core business activities encompass power generation, asset management and energy trading services.