TELUS (NYSE:TU) Lowered to “Sector Perform” Rating by National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial downgraded shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on TU. StockNews.com cut shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank raised shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

TELUS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TU opened at $14.55 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $21.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.97. TELUS has a twelve month low of $14.40 and a twelve month high of $18.68.

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, 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 business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. TELUS’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is currently 253.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TU. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in TELUS during the third quarter valued at $320,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 8.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,335,660 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $40,238,000 after purchasing an additional 177,953 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its position in shares of TELUS by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,666,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $44,785,000 after purchasing an additional 317,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of TELUS by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $7,839,000 after purchasing an additional 129,934 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in TELUS during the third quarter worth about $1,509,000. 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.