TELUS (NYSE:TU) Sets New 52-Week Low at $15.35

Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $15.35 and last traded at $15.38, with a volume of 294748 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $15.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on TU shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $26.00 price objective (down from $28.00) on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of TELUS from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of TELUS from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.72.

TELUS Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.28.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.01. TELUS had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a $0.2793 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.12%. This is a positive change from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is currently 258.14%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in TELUS by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 59,637,886 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $1,149,047,000 after purchasing an additional 4,574,843 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in TELUS by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 40,669,392 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $727,275,000 after purchasing an additional 6,334,692 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in TELUS by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,614,595 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $633,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,999 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in TELUS by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 28,705,377 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $511,646,000 after purchasing an additional 3,860,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in TELUS by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 22,881,520 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $407,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,827 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.