TELUS (NYSE:TU) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

Separately, Scotiabank reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $26.00 price target (down previously from $28.00) on shares of TELUS in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TELUS has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $27.72.

TELUS Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $15.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.51, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.73. TELUS has a 12 month low of $15.35 and a 12 month high of $19.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 7.90% and a net margin of 3.73%. As a group, research analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.14%. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 289.75%.

Institutional Trading of TELUS

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 215.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,214,210 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $395,314,000 after acquiring an additional 15,179,110 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in TELUS by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 40,669,392 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $727,275,000 after purchasing an additional 6,334,692 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in TELUS during the fourth quarter worth $109,327,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at $82,775,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of TELUS by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 28,705,377 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $511,646,000 after purchasing an additional 3,860,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

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.