TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• TELUS Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from eight brokerages, with seven analysts issuing a hold rating and one a buy rating, and an average one-year target price of $21.50.
• Significant institutional activity includes Mackenzie Financial Corp increasing its holdings in TELUS by 22.6% during the fourth quarter, with institutional investors now owning 49.40% of the company’s stock.
• The company recently boosted its quarterly dividend to $0.2989 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 7.7%, despite a high payout ratio of 212.28%.

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.50.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. National Bankshares reiterated a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th.

TELUS Price Performance

TU stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $15.72. 2,306,513 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,237,614. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.73. TELUS has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $17.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.39.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.63 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.01% and a net margin of 4.67%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. Equities analysts expect that TELUS will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3019 per share. This is a boost from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.7%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 263.04%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in TELUS during the 2nd quarter valued at about $294,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in TELUS by 1,981,964.7% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,428,972 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $54,969,000 after purchasing an additional 3,428,799 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in TELUS by 15.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 549,012 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $8,815,000 after purchasing an additional 74,958 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 7.9% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 62,317 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $999,000 after acquiring an additional 4,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 2.2% during the second quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,054,615 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $16,890,000 after acquiring an additional 22,718 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About TELUS

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.