TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $26.00.

TU has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank raised TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note 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. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th.

TELUS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $13.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.70. The company has a market cap of $20.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.74. TELUS has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $18.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.11. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. TELUS’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that TELUS will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a dividend of $0.297 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.52%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is 253.19%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $7,839,000 after purchasing an additional 129,934 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its holdings in TELUS by 159.6% in the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 140,539 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 86,393 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in TELUS by 192.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,326,632 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $22,257,000 after buying an additional 872,235 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of TELUS during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $945,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of TELUS by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,472,610 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $188,835,000 after buying an additional 636,845 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

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.