StockNews.com Downgrades TELUS (NYSE:TU) to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. 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 TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

TU stock opened at $15.20 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.69. TELUS has a one year low of $14.63 and a one year high of $19.14. The firm has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.75.

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. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.297 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.82%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 244.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in TELUS by 24.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,160,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $438,922,000 after purchasing an additional 5,094,269 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in TELUS by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 38,193,733 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $578,253,000 after buying an additional 2,365,753 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in TELUS by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 16,670,713 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $252,468,000 after buying an additional 1,501,742 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in TELUS by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 41,711,861 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $631,310,000 after buying an additional 1,208,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 192.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,326,632 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $22,257,000 after acquiring an additional 872,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

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.