TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$15.80.

Several analysts recently weighed in on TA shares. National Bankshares dropped their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$13.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$15.00 to C$14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$18.00 to C$18.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$15.00 to C$14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th.

TransAlta Trading Up 3.3 %

TA opened at C$8.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 253.18, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is C$8.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$10.12. TransAlta has a 1-year low of C$8.22 and a 1-year high of C$13.97. The firm has a market capitalization of C$2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.89.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported C($0.27) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.18 by C($0.45). The firm had revenue of C$624.00 million for the quarter. TransAlta had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 43.58%. Analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.4700714 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.