TELUS (NYSE:TU) Hits New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $13.54 and last traded at $13.57, with a volume of 3039247 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $13.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on TU shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com downgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, National Bank Financial cut TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Up 0.5 %

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 capitalization of $20.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.80.

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

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.297 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.71%. TELUS’s payout ratio is 253.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 58.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,001 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $123,000. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in shares of 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, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in TELUS during the 2nd quarter valued at $163,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.