TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Consensus "Hold" — TELUS has an average recommendation of "Hold" from 11 analysts (2 sell, 4 hold, 5 buy) with a 12‑month average price target of $17.63.
• Earnings and outlook — TELUS missed quarterly EPS ($0.15 vs. $0.18) and revenue was slightly below expectations, with analysts forecasting about 0.7 EPS for the current year and modest profitability (net margin 5.42%, ROE 8.42%).
• Generous but potentially unsustainable dividend — TELUS paid a quarterly dividend of $0.4184 (annualized $1.67) implying a 13.3% yield, but its payout ratio is very high at ~236.5%, raising sustainability concerns.

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.6250.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Bank of America raised shares of TELUS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of TELUS from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 320.0% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 2,247 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,712 shares in the last quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 2,473 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 35.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the second quarter worth $61,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TELUS Price Performance

TU opened at $12.56 on Monday. 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 $11.69 and a 52-week high of $16.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.46. The company has a market cap of $19.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.61.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.03). TELUS had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 5.42%.The business had revenue of $3.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that TELUS will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.4184 per share. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.

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