TransAlta (TSE:TA) Stock Price Down 14.9% – Here’s What Happened

TransAlta Co. (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC)’s share price fell 14.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as C$16.26 and last traded at C$16.47. 836,079 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 2,042,685 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$19.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. CIBC lowered TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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 lifted their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$18.33.

TransAlta Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of C$4.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$18.54 and a 200 day moving average of C$14.58.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last released its earnings results 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 previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 69,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.15, for a total value of C$1,060,227.30. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total value of C$377,750.00. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.