TransAlta Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.04 (NYSE:TAC)

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.0423 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th.

TransAlta has increased its dividend by an average of 8.6% per year over the last three years. TransAlta has a payout ratio of 58.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect TransAlta to earn $0.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.17 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.5%.

TransAlta Stock Performance

Shares of TAC opened at $13.20 on Thursday. TransAlta has a 52-week low of $5.94 and a 52-week high of $13.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 35.68 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $10.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Desjardins restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

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.