TransAlta (TSE:TA) Stock Price Down 14.9% – What’s Next?

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC)’s share price dropped 14.9% on Monday . The company traded as low as C$16.26 and last traded at C$16.47. Approximately 836,079 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 2,042,685 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$19.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities boosted their target price on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. CIBC downgraded TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$18.33.

TransAlta Stock Down 15.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$18.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$14.50. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In other news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 3,602 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$18.84, for a total transaction of C$67,861.68. Insiders have sold a total of 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670 in the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by 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.