TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Consensus "Hold": Ten brokerages rate TELUS an average "Hold" (1 sell, 4 hold, 5 buy) with a mean 12‑month target of $17.63, and recent analyst moves include Bank of America upgrading to buy (target $16) while TD and Wall Street Zen moved to more cautious ratings.
• Quarterly miss: TELUS reported Q results that missed estimates (EPS $0.15 vs. $0.18; revenue $3.83B vs. $3.85B) and EPS fell from $0.25 year‑ago, with sell‑side forecasts projecting ~0.71 EPS for the fiscal year.
• High dividend yield but stretched payout: TELUS paid a quarterly dividend of $0.4184 (annualized $1.67) implying a 13.2% yield, yet the dividend payout ratio is very high at 236.54%, while the stock trades near its 1‑year low (~$12.65 open) and has a market cap of ~$19.6B.

Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.6250.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Bank of America raised TELUS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, TD Securities lowered TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Walter Public Investments Inc. lifted its stake in TELUS by 1.9% in the third quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 39,334 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $619,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in TELUS by 7.0% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 11,483 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in TELUS by 35.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in TELUS by 23.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,994 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in TELUS by 1.9% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,099 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $739,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Stock Up 0.9%

TU stock opened at $12.65 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The company's 50 day moving average is $13.47 and its 200 day moving average is $13.85. The stock has a market cap of $19.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.68. TELUS has a 1-year low of $12.50 and a 1-year high of $16.74.

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 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 analysts' expectations of $3.85 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 8.42%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that TELUS will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a $0.4184 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.2%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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