TransAlta (TSE:TA) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as C$21.11 and last traded at C$21.07, with a volume of 147276 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$20.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TA. Desjardins upped their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. CIBC downgraded TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$18.33.

TransAlta Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of C$18.05 and a 200-day moving average of C$14.21. The company has a market cap of C$6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total transaction of C$1,060,227.30. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock valued at $3,478,670. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.