National Bank Financial Comments on TransAlta Q4 Earnings

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) – Equities research analysts at National Bank Financial issued their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for TransAlta in a research note issued on Tuesday, January 28th. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.05 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for TransAlta’s current full-year earnings is $0.54 per share.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on TAC. StockNews.com raised TransAlta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Desjardins restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC downgraded shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank cut shares of TransAlta from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of 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 one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransAlta currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

TransAlta Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TAC opened at $11.56 on Friday. TransAlta has a fifty-two week low of $5.94 and a fifty-two 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24 and a beta of 0.84.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a $0.0423 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. TransAlta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.65%.

Institutional Trading of TransAlta

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its position in TransAlta by 20.0% during the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,622,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,254,000 after acquiring an additional 935,803 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of TransAlta by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,593,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,613,000 after purchasing an additional 408,184 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of TransAlta in the third quarter worth approximately $998,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in TransAlta during the third quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in TransAlta during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,812,000. 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.