TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Stock Price Up 6.9% – Here’s Why

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA)’s stock price traded up 6.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $11.20 and last traded at $11.29. 229,881 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 2,011,030 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

TransAlta Stock Up 7.6 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.94. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97 and a beta of 0.83. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28). TransAlta had a net margin of 5.72% and a return on equity of 17.46%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that TransAlta Co. will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a $0.0423 dividend. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TAC. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in shares of TransAlta in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Tobam acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the third quarter worth about $61,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the third quarter worth about $130,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in TransAlta during the fourth quarter worth about $145,000. 59.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About TransAlta

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.