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

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

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TU. Natl Bk Canada upgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $19.00 price target (down from $22.00) on shares of TELUS in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. National Bankshares restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of TELUS by 26.1% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in TELUS by 169.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,658 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,301 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TELUS Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of TELUS stock opened at $13.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $21.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $13.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.80. TELUS has a 1 year low of $12.54 and a 1 year high of $16.74.

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

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th were given a dividend of $0.4184 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 11th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.0%. TELUS’s payout ratio is currently 216.36%.

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.