TELUS (TSE:T) Cut to Sector Perform at National Bankshares

National Bankshares downgraded shares of TELUS (TSE:T) (NYSE:TU) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report published on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have C$22.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of C$24.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of TELUS from C$26.00 to C$25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on TELUS from C$24.00 to C$23.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of TELUS from C$24.00 to C$25.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of TELUS from C$24.00 to C$23.25 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Cormark cut their price target on shares of TELUS from C$26.00 to C$25.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$24.31.

TELUS Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of TSE T opened at C$20.73 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is C$21.89 and its 200-day moving average price is C$21.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 171.58, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.66. TELUS has a 52-week low of C$20.04 and a 52-week high of C$25.07. The company has a market capitalization of C$30.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.402 per share. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.76%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 294.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TELUS news, Director Marc Parent purchased 19,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$22.04 per share, with a total value of C$420,964.00. Also, Director Victor George Dodig purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$21.38 per share, with a total value of C$2,138,000.00. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.