TransAlta (TSE:TA) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$14.82 and traded as high as C$15.67. TransAlta shares last traded at C$15.50, with a volume of 2,315,409 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on TA. TD Securities lifted their target price 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. Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from C$19.00 to C$21.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Desjardins increased their target price on TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. CIBC downgraded shares of TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$18.71.

TransAlta Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of C$18.69 and a 200 day moving average price of C$14.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In related news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 35,179 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$20.73, for a total value of C$729,260.67. Insiders have 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.

TransAlta Company Profile

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.