TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TransAlta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank cut TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.50.

TransAlta Stock Up 1.8 %

TAC stock opened at $8.68 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.11. The company has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16 and a beta of 0.72. TransAlta has a 52 week low of $5.94 and a 52 week high of $14.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $484.60 million during the quarter. TransAlta had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 6.38%. On average, analysts forecast that TransAlta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransAlta Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0458 per share. This is a boost from TransAlta’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 145,600.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Tobam purchased a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter valued at $145,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new position in TransAlta in the fourth quarter valued at about $147,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 4th quarter worth about $150,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

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.