TransAlta (TSE:TA) Rating Lowered to Hold at Cibc World Mkts

TransAlta (TSE:TA) (NYSE:TAC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Cibc World Mkts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$15.50 to C$16.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of TransAlta from C$14.00 to C$16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on TransAlta from C$17.00 to C$22.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, CIBC downgraded TransAlta from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from C$17.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, TransAlta currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$18.33.

TransAlta Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of TSE:TA opened at C$19.12 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is C$17.45 and its 200 day moving average is C$13.74. The company has a market cap of C$5.70 billion, a PE ratio of 10.06, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 219.87, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.62. TransAlta has a 1 year low of C$8.22 and a 1 year high of C$20.98.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransAlta news, Director John Harry Kousinioris sold 35,179 shares of TransAlta stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$20.73, for a total value of C$729,260.67. Also, Senior Officer Jane Nyla Fedoretz sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$15.11, for a total value of C$377,750.00. Insiders have sold a total of 204,763 shares of company stock worth $3,478,670 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

TransAlta Company Profile

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.