TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.28 EPS

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.28), Zacks reports. TransAlta had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 5.72%.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TAC traded up $0.49 on Thursday, reaching $11.05. 325,768 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,011,030. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.74 and a 200-day moving average of $10.94. TransAlta has a twelve month low of $5.94 and a twelve month high of $14.64. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03 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 Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0423 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. TransAlta’s payout ratio is presently 48.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Desjardins reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

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.