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

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.1667.

TU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup upgraded TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Natl Bk Canada raised TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. National Bank Financial raised TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 29th.

TELUS Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of TELUS stock opened at $13.87 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. TELUS has a 12-month low of $12.54 and a 12-month high of $16.74. The company has a market capitalization of $21.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $13.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.89.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion during 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%. TELUS’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th were given a dividend of $0.4184 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.1%. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 218.18%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. grew its position in TELUS by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 39,334 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $619,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in TELUS by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 11,483 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in TELUS by 35.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in TELUS by 1.9% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,099 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. 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.