TELUS (NYSE:TU) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on TU. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU stock opened at $15.20 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.06. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.75. TELUS has a 12 month low of $14.63 and a 12 month high of $19.14.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. TELUS’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that TELUS will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.297 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s payout ratio is currently 253.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of TELUS by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,436,455 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $375,218,000 after purchasing an additional 602,440 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in TELUS in the first quarter valued at $58,000. Natixis lifted its stake in TELUS by 169.1% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 155,536 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $2,489,000 after buying an additional 97,732 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the first quarter valued at $165,000. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of TELUS by 7.8% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 143,106 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 10,327 shares during the last quarter. 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.