TELUS (NYSE:TU) Rating Increased to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Bank of America currently has $16.00 price target on the Wireless communications provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $14.50.

TU has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup upgraded TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.63.

TELUS Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:TU opened at $13.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.68. TELUS has a one year low of $12.54 and a one year high of $16.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.31.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.03). TELUS had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The business had revenue of $3.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that TELUS will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.4184 dividend. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is 230.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tobam increased its stake in TELUS by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 144,573 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,904,000 after purchasing an additional 31,625 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,500,760 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $164,635,000 after buying an additional 2,091,819 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 3,858.0% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 791,594 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $11,107,000 after buying an additional 771,594 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 33,318,398 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $433,838,000 after buying an additional 955,779 shares during the period. Finally, Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at about $638,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TELUS Company Profile

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.