TransAlta (TAC) Expected to Announce Earnings on Thursday

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) will likely be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, February 20th. Analysts expect TransAlta to post earnings of $0.12 per share for the quarter. Individual interested in participating in the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TAC opened at $10.58 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.92. TransAlta has a 1-year low of $5.94 and a 1-year high of $14.64. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59 and a beta of 0.83.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a $0.0423 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Desjardins restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.50.

TransAlta Company Profile

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.