TELUS (NYSE:TU) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $9.95 and last traded at $10.0740, with a volume of 904830 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $10.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Friday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. TD Securities raised TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. TD Cowen raised TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.67.

TELUS Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.19, a P/E/G ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 0.63.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.29% and a net margin of 4.54%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.4184 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 16.4%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 275.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc lifted its stake in TELUS by 307.9% in the fourth quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 222,192 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $2,933,000 after purchasing an additional 167,714 shares during the last quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. raised its stake in TELUS by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 6,775,387 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $89,416,000 after acquiring an additional 148,325 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in TELUS by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,470,046 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $388,415,000 after purchasing an additional 916,459 shares during the last quarter. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $16,660,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in TELUS by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 357,705 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $4,711,000 after purchasing an additional 176,316 shares during the period. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.