TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $26.00.

A number of analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. National Bank Financial lowered TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set an "equal weight" rating for the company. Finally, Cormark lowered TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of TELUS by 1,756.0% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at about $120,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at about $142,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

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TELUS Stock Performance

TU traded up $0.20 on Wednesday, reaching $15.82. 4,147,513 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,676,670. The company's 50-day moving average price is $14.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.38. TELUS has a fifty-two week low of $13.24 and a fifty-two week high of $17.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a PE ratio of 32.28, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.15%. TELUS's payout ratio is currently 226.53%.

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.