TELUS (NYSE:TU) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $12.74 and last traded at $12.8750, with a volume of 2447304 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $13.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TU has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Citigroup raised shares of TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Natl Bk Canada upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, National Bankshares reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.17.

TELUS Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $14.38 and a 200-day moving average of $15.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $19.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.66.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). TELUS had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.4184 per share. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 220.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of TELUS by 54.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 45,258 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 16,046 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in TELUS by 7.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 300,831 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $4,314,000 after buying an additional 21,304 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in TELUS by 65.0% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,854 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 5,456 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,185,917 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $375,585,000 after acquiring an additional 384,510 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,817,792 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,069,000 after acquiring an additional 151,241 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.