TELUS (NYSE:TU) Hits New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $13.74 and last traded at $13.87, with a volume of 4863981 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $14.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

TELUS Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $15.58 and a 200-day moving average of $15.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73.

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

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.297 dividend. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is presently 253.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 60.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in TELUS by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 93,275 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its holdings in TELUS by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 378,086 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $5,721,000 after purchasing an additional 46,773 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in TELUS by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 85,648 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 10,141 shares during the period. Finally, VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. now owns 42,945 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 4,001 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.