TELUS (NYSE:TU) Reaches New 1-Year Low - What's Next?

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $14.42 and last traded at $14.43, with a volume of 356123 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $14.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on TU shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. National Bank Financial lowered shares of TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded TELUS from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TELUS has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

The firm's 50 day moving average is $15.70 and its 200-day moving average is $15.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. TELUS had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 253.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 3.0% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 41,711,861 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $631,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208,720 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 6.6% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 38,193,733 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $578,253,000 after buying an additional 2,365,753 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of TELUS by 24.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,160,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $438,922,000 after buying an additional 5,094,269 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of TELUS by 1.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 22,404,617 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $338,953,000 after buying an additional 387,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 1.3% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 16,882,528 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $283,854,000 after buying an additional 211,815 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

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.