Morgan Stanley Begins Coverage on TELUS (NYSE:TU)

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T in a research report released on Monday morning. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating on the Wireless communications provider's stock.

TU has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com cut shares of TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of TELUS from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TELUS presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

NYSE TU traded down $0.15 on Monday, hitting $14.40. The stock had a trading volume of 5,607,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,378,376. The company's 50-day moving average is $15.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.95. TELUS has a one year low of $14.33 and a one year high of $18.55. The stock has a market cap of $21.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. On average, analysts expect that TELUS will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.297 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.25%. This is an increase from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is presently 253.20%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 159.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 140,539 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $2,360,000 after acquiring an additional 86,393 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 192.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,326,632 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $22,257,000 after purchasing an additional 872,235 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the 3rd quarter valued at $945,000. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in TELUS by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,472,610 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $188,835,000 after purchasing an additional 636,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicola Wealth Management LTD. increased its stake in TELUS by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 1,060,819 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $17,801,000 after purchasing an additional 279,000 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.