Analysts Set TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Price Target at $18.17

Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.1667.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. National Bankshares reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th.

TELUS Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of TU stock opened at $13.53 on Friday. TELUS has a 1-year low of $12.80 and a 1-year high of $16.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $20.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.53 and a 200-day moving average of $15.62.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.4184 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.4%. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. TELUS’s payout ratio is 220.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

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

About TELUS

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.