TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Stock Price Up 7.1% – Still a Buy?

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) shares shot up 7.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $15.24 and last traded at $15.1060. 486,622 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 1,633,106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.11.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on TAC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Monday, November 10th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday. Natl Bk Canada downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded TransAlta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TransAlta currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.88.

TransAlta Stock Down 0.3%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.10. The company has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.04 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.22, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.79.

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $441.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $558.84 million. TransAlta had a positive return on equity of 3.00% and a negative net margin of 7.39%. Sell-side analysts expect that TransAlta Corporation will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TransAlta Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. TransAlta’s payout ratio is currently -39.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in TransAlta by 19.5% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 70,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 11,532 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of TransAlta in the second quarter worth $1,039,000. Timelo Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TransAlta during the 2nd quarter worth $647,000. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new position in TransAlta in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,367,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in TransAlta by 1,150.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 904,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,456,000 after buying an additional 832,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.00% of the company’s stock.

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.