CIBC Upgrades TransAlta (TSE:TA) to “Outperform”

CIBC upgraded shares of TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have C$19.50 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of C$23.00.

TA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank cut TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from C$19.00 to C$21.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$18.00 to C$19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$18.36.

TransAlta Stock Up 6.5 %

Shares of TSE:TA opened at C$15.96 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is C$18.24 and its 200-day moving average is C$15.18. TransAlta has a 52 week low of C$8.22 and a 52 week high of C$21.22. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 229.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Insider Activity 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 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 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$15.49, for a total transaction of C$123,920.00. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,781 shares of company stock valued at $2,040,692. 0.21% of the stock is 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.