TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Receives $17.63 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.6250.

Several brokerages have recently commented on TU. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup raised TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, National Bank Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Thursday, December 4th.

TELUS Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of TU opened at $13.44 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.20. TELUS has a 12-month low of $12.54 and a 12-month high of $16.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.68.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.03). TELUS had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 5.42%.The company had revenue of $3.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.4184 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.5%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 236.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TU. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 30,300,204 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $399,352,000 after purchasing an additional 16,066,539 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 258.3% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,816,565 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $261,727,000 after purchasing an additional 14,285,486 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,707,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in TELUS by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,450,381 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $103,624,000 after buying an additional 3,439,940 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,091,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.