TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.28 EPS

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28), Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 18.47%.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC stock opened at $10.88 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $12.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.96. TransAlta has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The company has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.53 and a beta of 0.83.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a $0.0458 dividend. This is an increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 43.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Desjardins reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. CIBC raised TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.50.

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.