TransAlta (TSE:TA) Stock Rating Lowered by Scotiabank

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Scotiabank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. CIBC lowered TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$18.33.

TransAlta Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of TA opened at C$19.35 on Thursday. TransAlta has a fifty-two week low of C$8.22 and a fifty-two week high of C$21.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$18.51 and a 200 day moving average of C$14.43. The firm has a market cap of C$5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.18 by C($0.30). TransAlta had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 19.50%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In related news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$17.67, for a total value of C$795,150.00. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total value of C$377,750.00. Insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock valued at $3,478,670 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.