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

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) shares hit 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 traded. The stock had previously closed at $15.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of TELUS from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective (down from $28.00) on shares of TELUS in a research report on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of TELUS from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.72.

TELUS Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $23.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.66, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.72.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.01. TELUS had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. TELUS’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.77 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.2793 per share. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.15%. TELUS’s payout ratio is presently 258.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in TELUS by 60.9% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 14,694 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 5,560 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,093 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 7,737 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,666 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 2,109 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 156.0% during the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 479,131 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $12,536,000 after buying an additional 291,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in shares of TELUS during the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

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.