TD Securities Issues Positive Forecast for TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Stock Price

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) had its target price increased by TD Securities from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on TAC. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on TransAlta from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.88.

TransAlta Trading Down 3.4%

TAC opened at $12.09 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $11.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.28. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of -28.79 and a beta of 0.75. TransAlta has a twelve month low of $7.58 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.79.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 2.06% and a negative net margin of 6.79%. The business had revenue of $451.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.94 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that TransAlta will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -45.24%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in TransAlta by 199.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 16,462,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $153,813,000 after purchasing an additional 10,957,858 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in TransAlta by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,291,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,055,000 after buying an additional 62,145 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,290,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,222,000 after buying an additional 716,139 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 79.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,255,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $116,764,000 after acquiring an additional 3,662,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 280.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969,037 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.