TELUS (NYSE:TU) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

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

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

TELUS Stock Down 1.1 %

TU stock opened at $15.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.70. TELUS has a 1-year low of $15.35 and a 1-year high of $19.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $16.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.07.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 7.90% and a net margin of 3.73%. Equities analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.282 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is 289.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position 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 valued at $395,314,000 after buying an additional 15,179,110 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of TELUS by 18.4% in 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 shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth approximately $109,327,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $82,775,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of TELUS by 15.5% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.