TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company.

TU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. National Bank Financial cut shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cormark downgraded shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America cut shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU opened at $14.49 on Friday. TELUS has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $17.27. The company has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.89 and a 200-day moving average of $15.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that TELUS will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.2829 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 226.53%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in TELUS by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $7,839,000 after purchasing an additional 129,934 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 192.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,326,632 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $22,257,000 after purchasing an additional 872,235 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of TELUS by 132.4% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 479,785 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $8,048,000 after buying an additional 273,368 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in TELUS by 13.5% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,666,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $44,785,000 after buying an additional 317,000 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its position in TELUS by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,017,200 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $13,785,000 after buying an additional 65,940 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TELUS Company Profile

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.