TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.1667.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Natl Bk Canada raised TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday. Barclays reduced their price target 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. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $19.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, November 18th.

TELUS Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of TU opened at $13.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $14.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.64. The stock has a market cap of $20.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.66. TELUS has a 12 month low of $12.80 and a 12 month high of $16.74.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 5.71%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that TELUS will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors 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 12.5%. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is presently 220.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TU. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in TELUS in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in TELUS by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in TELUS by 26.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,227 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in TELUS by 169.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,658 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 2,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in TELUS during the second quarter worth about $61,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.