TELUS (NYSE:TU) Rating Lowered to Hold at Canaccord Genuity Group

Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of TELUS from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $27.33.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TELUS stock remained flat at $16.40 on Tuesday. 1,076,819 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,296,861. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.44. TELUS has a 12 month low of $14.63 and a 12 month high of $19.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 8.50%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that TELUS will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.284 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.93%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 292.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management bought a new position in shares of TELUS in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its holdings in TELUS by 39.8% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 2,752 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in TELUS during the first quarter worth about $58,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.