TELUS (NYSE:TU) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday . 6,445,075 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 69% from the previous session’s volume of 3,819,676 shares.The stock last traded at $13.4250 and had previously closed at $13.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on TU shares. Natl Bk Canada upgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. National Bankshares reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.17.

TELUS Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $14.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.59, a P/E/G ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 5.71%.The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.4184 per share. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. TELUS’s payout ratio is presently 220.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TU. First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 4.5% in the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 40,927 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,749 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,030,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 560,219 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $8,797,000 after buying an additional 25,658 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC boosted its stake in TELUS by 4.5% during the third quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 245,676 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $3,874,000 after buying an additional 10,597 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd grew its holdings in TELUS by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 219,136 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $3,456,000 after purchasing an additional 100,490 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.