TransAlta (TSE:TA) Sets New 52-Week High at $12.64

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as C$12.64 and last traded at C$12.60, with a volume of 145824 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$12.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on TA shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$17.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. National Bankshares boosted their price objective on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, CIBC dropped their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$16.50 to C$15.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, TransAlta has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$15.43.

TransAlta Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is C$11.12 and its 200-day moving average is C$9.92. The firm has a market capitalization of C$3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.58, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.90. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.07 by C$0.11. TransAlta had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 19.50%. The business had revenue of C$582.00 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.4504537 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is 12.63%.

Insider Activity

In other TransAlta news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 41,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$11.30, for a total transaction of C$467,571.40. In other news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 41,378 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$11.30, for a total transaction of C$467,571.40. Also, Senior Officer Kerry Lynn O’reilly sold 48,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$10.99, for a total value of C$536,674.67. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 100,217 shares of company stock valued at $1,118,820. 0.21% of the stock is 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.