TransAlta (TSE:TA) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$21.11 and last traded at C$21.07, with a volume of 147276 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$20.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on TA. Cibc World Mkts downgraded TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. CIBC cut TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Securities raised their price objective on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Desjardins upped their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$18.33.

TransAlta Trading Down 0.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$18.05 and a 200-day moving average price of C$14.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total transaction of C$377,750.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 45,000 shares of the firm’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. Insiders sold 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670 over the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.