TELUS (NYSE:TU) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

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

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Scotiabank raised TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report 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 equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

TELUS stock opened at $15.32 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $16.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.75.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. TELUS had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that TELUS will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.75%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 244.69%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 0.7% during the second quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 93,275 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the period. Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its stake in TELUS by 1.8% during the second quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,453 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in TELUS by 60.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in TELUS by 19.0% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in TELUS by 2.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 77,198 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 49.40% of the stock is 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.