Scotia Reiterates C$27.00 Price Target for TransAlta (TSE:TA)

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) has been given a C$27.00 price target by research analysts at Scotia in a research note issued on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the stock. Scotia’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 54.46% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on TA. TD lowered their price target on TransAlta from C$27.00 to C$26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Desjardins lowered their price target on TransAlta from C$19.00 to C$18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. National Bank Financial increased their price target on TransAlta from C$22.00 to C$24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets set a C$28.00 price target on TransAlta and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$24.95.

TransAlta Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of TransAlta stock traded up C$0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting C$17.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,132,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,452,348. TransAlta has a 12 month low of C$14.07 and a 12 month high of C$25.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$18.12 and a 200 day moving average of C$18.07. The company has a market capitalization of C$5.21 billion, a PE ratio of -23.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 317.20, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. TransAlta had a negative return on equity of 11.56% and a negative net margin of 7.73%.The company had revenue of C$560.00 million during the quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransAlta news, insider Christopher Douglas Fralick sold 36,453 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$17.90, for a total value of C$652,508.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 46,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$840,208.10. The trade was a 43.71% decrease in their position. Also, insider Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 10,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$17.45, for a total transaction of C$174,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 74,906 shares in the company, valued at C$1,307,109.70. The trade was a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Over the last three months, insiders bought 20,450 shares of company stock worth $361,748 and sold 95,953 shares worth $1,707,409. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

TransAlta Company Profile

TransAlta owns, operates and develops a diverse fleet of electrical power generation assets in Canada, the United States and Australia with a focus on long-term shareholder value. TransAlta provides municipalities, medium and large industries, businesses and utility customers with affordable, energy efficient and reliable power. Today, TransAlta is one of Canada’s largest producers of wind power and Alberta’s largest producer of thermal generation and hydro-electric power. For over 114 years, TransAlta has been a responsible operator and a proud member of the communities where we operate and where our employees work and live.