TELUS (NYSE:TU) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $13.24 and last traded at $13.45, with a volume of 3495834 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Scotiabank raised TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TELUS has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

TELUS Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.69.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. TELUS’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.297 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.76%. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 253.19%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TU. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 58.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,001 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at $123,000. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth $163,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TELUS Company Profile

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.