TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $14.90 and last traded at $14.42, with a volume of 1925976 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $13.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on TAC shares. National Bankshares reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Saturday, September 27th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of TransAlta in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded TransAlta from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TransAlta currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.88.

TransAlta Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.98, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.47 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.87.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted 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 return on equity of 2.06% and a negative net margin of 6.79%.The company had revenue of $451.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $473.94 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st were paid a $0.065 dividend. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. TransAlta’s payout ratio is -45.24%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sowell Financial Services LLC raised its stake in TransAlta by 6.0% in the second quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 23,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 145,600.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 6.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 51,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 3,322 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 48,666.7% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of TransAlta by 3.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 152,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,660,000 after purchasing an additional 5,214 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.