TELUS (NYSE:TU) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• TELUS hit a new 52-week low of $12.52 and was trading down about 2.4%, with a consensus analyst rating of Hold and an average price target of $17.63 amid mixed upgrades and downgrades.
• The company missed quarterly EPS ($0.15 vs $0.18) and slightly missed revenue estimates, and although it pays a quarterly dividend that annualizes to a 13.3% yield, the payout ratio is an elevated 236.54%, signaling sustainability concerns.

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T's share price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $12.52 and last traded at $12.5150, with a volume of 3603199 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities lowered TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Bank of America raised TELUS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $17.63.

TELUS Trading Down 2.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $19.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.88.

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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 5.42%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued 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 was Wednesday, March 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is presently 236.54%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Walter Public Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 39,334 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 11,483 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 35.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,994 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,099 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TELUS Company Profile

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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