TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.28 EPS

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 5.72% and a return on equity of 17.46%.

TransAlta Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:TAC traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.38. The company had a trading volume of 196,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,020,641. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.94. TransAlta has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0423 per share. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. CIBC raised shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Desjardins reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.50.

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.