TELUS (NYSE:TU) Shares Down 4.8% – What’s Next?

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T)’s stock price traded down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $13.88 and last traded at $13.95. 2,598,217 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 2,713,143 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.65.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TU has been the subject of a number of research reports. National Bank Financial downgraded TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cormark downgraded shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America cut shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s 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

The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $14.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.13%. TELUS’s payout ratio is 226.53%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC lifted 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 valued at $7,839,000 after buying an additional 129,934 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 872,235 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of TELUS by 132.4% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 479,785 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $8,048,000 after purchasing an additional 273,368 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its position in shares of TELUS by 13.5% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,666,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $44,785,000 after purchasing an additional 317,000 shares during the period. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,521,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.