TransAlta (TSE:TA) Lowered to Hold Rating by Scotiabank

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

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. TD Securities lifted their price target on TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 raised their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Desjardins upped their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, CIBC downgraded shares of TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TransAlta presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$18.33.

TransAlta Stock Performance

TSE TA opened at C$19.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of C$5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. 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$14.43.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransAlta

In other TransAlta news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$17.67, for a total value of C$795,150.00. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total transaction of C$377,750.00. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.