TransAlta (TSE:TA) Cut to Hold at Scotiabank

Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on TA. Cibc World Mkts cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC lowered TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$18.33.

TransAlta Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of TSE:TA opened at C$19.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84. TransAlta has a 52-week low of C$8.22 and a 52-week high of C$21.22. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$18.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$14.46. The company has a market capitalization of C$5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.18 by C($0.30). TransAlta had a net margin of 19.50% and a return on equity of 32.01%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share.

Insider Activity at TransAlta

In related news, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$19.41, for a total value of C$194,100.00. Also, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 35,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$20.73, for a total transaction of C$729,260.67. Insiders have sold a total of 204,763 shares of company stock valued at $3,478,670 over the last 90 days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.