TELUS (NYSE:TU) Research Coverage Started at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) in a report issued on Monday. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating on the Wireless communications provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on TU. National Bank Financial cut shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank raised shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TELUS stock opened at $13.87 on Monday. TELUS has a 12 month low of $13.74 and a 12 month high of $18.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a PE ratio of 29.51, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.92.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. TELUS’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that TELUS will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm 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 8.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s payout ratio is currently 253.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Gold Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 0.7% in the second quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 93,275 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. lifted its stake in TELUS by 1.8% in the second quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,453 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of TELUS by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in shares of TELUS by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 77,198 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.