TELUS (NYSE:TU) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $13.54 and last traded at $13.57, with a volume of 3039247 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

TELUS Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $20.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.87, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $15.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.86.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company earned $0.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.297 dividend. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.75%. 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 payout ratio is 253.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,001 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in TELUS during the 2nd quarter valued at $123,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in TELUS by 19.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in TELUS in the second quarter worth $163,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.