TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$24.85.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotia set a C$27.00 price objective on shares of TransAlta and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Scotiabank raised TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reduced their price target on TransAlta from C$26.00 to C$24.50 in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. TD set a C$26.00 price target on TransAlta and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$24.00 price objective on TransAlta and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th.

TransAlta Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of TA opened at C$18.36 on Thursday. TransAlta has a twelve month low of C$15.62 and a twelve month high of C$25.03. The company has a market cap of C$5.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.23, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 238.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$17.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$18.04.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.18 EPS for the quarter. TransAlta had a negative net margin of 1.02% and a negative return on equity of 1.50%. The firm had revenue of C$507.00 million during the quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransAlta

In other TransAlta news, insider Michael Politeski bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$16.02 per share, for a total transaction of C$80,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 90,000 shares in the company, valued at C$1,441,800. This trade represents a 5.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

About TransAlta

TransAlta owns, operates and develops a diverse fleet of electrical power generation assets in Canada, the United States and Australia with a focus on long-term shareholder value. TransAlta provides municipalities, medium and large industries, businesses and utility customers with affordable, energy efficient and reliable power. Today, TransAlta is one of Canada’s largest producers of wind power and Alberta’s largest producer of thermal generation and hydro-electric power. For over 114 years, TransAlta has been a responsible operator and a proud member of the communities where we operate and where our employees work and live.