TELUS (NYSE:TU) Sets New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $14.42 and last traded at $14.43, with a volume of 356123 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $14.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on TU shares. Scotiabank raised shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. National Bank Financial lowered shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

TELUS Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $15.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.297 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.21%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 253.20%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $123,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in TELUS by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Company Profile

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.