TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.1667.

TU has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $19.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. National Bank Financial raised TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Natl Bk Canada upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU stock opened at $13.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.16. TELUS has a 12 month low of $12.54 and a 12 month high of $16.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.66.

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

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 11th were given a $0.4184 dividend. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 11th. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. TELUS’s payout ratio is currently 218.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TU. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of TELUS by 14.9% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,183 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in TELUS by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 171,551 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $2,461,000 after purchasing an additional 51,886 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ grew its stake in TELUS by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 132,300 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,897,000 after purchasing an additional 3,733 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 1st quarter valued at $2,283,000. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 22,899,251 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $328,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,521 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

About TELUS

TELUS Corporation (NYSE: TU) is a Canadian telecommunications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It delivers a broad portfolio of consumer and business communications services across Canada, including mobile wireless, fixed-line voice, broadband internet, and television. TELUS also provides a range of enterprise services such as cloud and IT solutions, managed network services, cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings for business customers.

Beyond core connectivity, TELUS has expanded into health and digital services.