TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.28 EPS

TransAlta (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The utilities provider reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.28), Zacks reports. TransAlta had a net margin of 5.72% and a return on equity of 17.46%.

TransAlta Trading Up 5.4 %

TAC stock traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $11.13. 371,419 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,016,775. TransAlta has a 52-week low of $5.94 and a 52-week high of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average of $12.74 and a 200-day moving average of $10.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11 and a beta of 0.83.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0423 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on TAC. Cibc World Mkts raised TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank lowered TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Desjardins reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC raised TransAlta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $23.00 to $19.50 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.50.

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.