TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) Declares Quarterly Dividend of C$0.07

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of 0.07 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is a 7.7% increase from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07.

TransAlta has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 2 years. TransAlta has a dividend payout ratio of 117.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect TransAlta to earn $0.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.4%.

TransAlta Trading Up 1.5%

TAC stock opened at $14.25 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.20. TransAlta has a fifty-two week low of $9.52 and a fifty-two week high of $17.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.38 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $406.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $436.36 million. TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 9.52% and a negative net margin of 9.46%. Analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation, originally founded in 1909 as Calgary Power Company Ltd., is a publicly traded energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and transmission assets. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, TransAlta has grown from its early hydroelectric roots into a diversified energy provider with a multi-fuel generating fleet.

The company’s core business activities encompass power generation, asset management and energy trading services.