TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) Declares $0.04 Quarterly Dividend

TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC) (TSE:TA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given 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 raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.6% annually over the last three years. TransAlta has a payout ratio of 58.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:TAC traded up $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.18. 541,452 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 788,812. TransAlta has a 52-week low of $5.94 and a 52-week high of $13.97. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $10.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43 and a beta of 0.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on TAC shares. StockNews.com cut shares of TransAlta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Desjardins restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of TransAlta to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th.

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.