Insider Buying: TELUS (TSE:T) Director Acquires 190,000 Shares of Stock

TELUS Co. (TSE:T) (NYSE:TU) Director Darren Entwistle purchased 190,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$17.38 per share, with a total value of C$3,302,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 1,070,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$18,609,478.58. This trade represents a 21.57% increase in their position.

Darren Entwistle also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, December 19th, Darren Entwistle bought 2,600 shares of TELUS stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$17.41 per share, with a total value of C$45,266.00.

TELUS Stock Up 1.1%

T traded up C$0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting C$19.01. The company had a trading volume of 6,400,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,772,031. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$18.27 and its 200 day moving average price is C$20.63. TELUS Co. has a 52 week low of C$17.26 and a 52 week high of C$23.29. The company has a market capitalization of C$29.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.41.

TELUS (TSE:T) (NYSE:TU) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.24 EPS for the quarter. TELUS had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 4.62%.The business had revenue of C$5.07 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 1.2267985 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on TELUS from C$25.00 to C$20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Natl Bk Canada upgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from C$23.00 to C$19.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, National Bankshares dropped their price target on shares of TELUS from C$21.50 to C$21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TELUS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$21.79.

TELUS Company Profile

Telus is one of the Big Three wireless service providers in Canada, with its 9 million mobile phone subscribers nationwide constituting about 30% of the total market. It is the incumbent local exchange carrier in the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, where it provides internet, television, and landline phone services. It also has a small wireline presence in eastern Quebec. In recent years Telus has moved to bring fiber to the home over most of its wireline footprint as it upgrades its legacy copper network, leaving it able to compete on more equal footing with cable providers.