TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $26.00.

TU has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. National Bank Financial lowered TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Cormark downgraded shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company.

TELUS Price Performance

TU stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.41. 1,121,212 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,652,469. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.37. TELUS has a 1-year low of $13.24 and a 1-year high of $17.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $23.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.44, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.75.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that TELUS will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.2829 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 224.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TU. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in TELUS by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,232,693 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $667,840,000 after buying an additional 9,068,181 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 30,219,141 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $409,662,000 after purchasing an additional 6,659,564 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at about $70,212,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 24.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,160,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $438,922,000 after purchasing an additional 5,094,269 shares during the period. Finally, Mufg Securities Canada LTD. boosted its position in TELUS by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 2,236,163 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $30,299,000 after acquiring an additional 912,277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

About TELUS

TELUS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of telecommunications and information technology products and services in Canada. It operates through Technology Solutions and Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers a range of telecommunications products and services; network services; healthcare services; mobile technologies equipment; data services, such as internet protocol; television; hosting, managed information technology, and cloud-based services; software, data management, and data analytics-driven smart food-chain and consumer goods technologies; home and business security; healthcare software and technology solutions; and voice and other telecommunications services, as well as mobile and fixed voice and data telecommunications services and products.