Brokerages Set TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) Price Target at $19.88

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.8750.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TAC. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, National Bankshares restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAC. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in TransAlta by 199.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 16,462,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,813,000 after purchasing an additional 10,957,858 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in TransAlta by 280.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,385,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,037 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its position in TransAlta by 32.9% during the second quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 15,948,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $172,084,000 after purchasing an additional 3,948,451 shares in the last quarter. Potrero Capital Research LLC raised its position in TransAlta by 373.2% during the fourth quarter. Potrero Capital Research LLC now owns 2,323,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,884,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yaupon Capital Management LP raised its position in TransAlta by 138.0% during the first quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 1,680,101 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,681,000 after purchasing an additional 974,253 shares in the last quarter. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TransAlta Stock Up 2.6%

NYSE TAC opened at $12.67 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98. TransAlta has a 1-year low of $7.82 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.04 and a 200-day moving average of $10.44. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.15 and a beta of 0.78.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.06. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 6.79% and a negative return on equity of 2.06%. The company had revenue of $451.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.94 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.065 per share. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -45.24%.

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.