TransAlta (TSE:TA) Cut to “Sector Perform” at Scotiabank

Scotiabank downgraded shares of TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note published on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has C$21.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of C$19.00.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on TA. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$16.00 to C$18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC lowered TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Desjardins raised their price objective on TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts lowered TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$18.71.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TA stock opened at C$16.72 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$18.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$14.59. The company has a market cap of C$4.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. TransAlta has a 12-month low of C$8.22 and a 12-month high of C$21.22.

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.18 by C($0.30). TransAlta had a return on equity of 32.01% and a net margin of 19.50%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 45,000 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 3,602 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$18.84, for a total value of C$67,861.68. Insiders have sold 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.