TELUS (NYSE:TU) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of TELUS to an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut TELUS to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank lowered shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.67.

TELUS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TU opened at $9.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a PE ratio of -23.35, a PEG ratio of 7.42 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $11.13 and a 200 day moving average of $12.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.67. TELUS has a one year low of $9.22 and a one year high of $16.72.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.04). TELUS had a positive return on equity of 7.68% and a negative net margin of 4.51%.The company had revenue of $3.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that TELUS will post 0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.8%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -295.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in TELUS by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 33,318,398 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $433,838,000 after acquiring an additional 955,779 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 112.9% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 30,300,204 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $399,352,000 after purchasing an additional 16,066,539 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in TELUS by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,470,046 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $388,415,000 after buying an additional 916,459 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in TELUS by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 24,075,122 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $309,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,258,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of TELUS by 20.4% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 21,108,090 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $271,237,000 after buying an additional 3,571,734 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About TELUS

TELUS Corporation (NYSE: TU) is a Canadian telecommunications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It delivers a broad portfolio of consumer and business communications services across Canada, including mobile wireless, fixed-line voice, broadband internet, and television. TELUS also provides a range of enterprise services such as cloud and IT solutions, managed network services, cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings for business customers.

Beyond core connectivity, TELUS has expanded into health and digital services.