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

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) issued its quarterly earnings results 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. TransAlta had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 5.72%.

TransAlta Stock Up 5.4 %

NYSE TAC traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $11.13. 371,419 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,016,775. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 30.11 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.94. TransAlta has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0423 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently 48.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TAC shares. Scotiabank downgraded TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. CIBC upgraded TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday. Desjardins restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.