Brokerages Set TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Price Target at $17.63

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.6250.

TU has been the topic of several analyst reports. National Bank Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Bank of America raised shares of TELUS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup upgraded shares of TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Friday, February 13th.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tobam lifted its holdings in TELUS by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 144,573 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,904,000 after purchasing an additional 31,625 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in TELUS by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,500,760 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $164,635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,091,819 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury grew its holdings in TELUS by 3,858.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 791,594 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $11,107,000 after buying an additional 771,594 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in TELUS by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 33,318,398 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $433,838,000 after buying an additional 955,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twinbeech Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $638,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU opened at $13.15 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. TELUS has a 52 week low of $12.54 and a 52 week high of $16.74. The stock has a market cap of $20.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.68.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 8.42%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that TELUS will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a $0.4184 dividend. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is presently 236.54%.

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.