TELUS (NYSE:TU) Stock Price Down 4.8% – Here’s What Happened

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T)’s stock price fell 4.8% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $13.88 and last traded at $13.95. 2,598,217 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 2,713,143 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TU. Bank of America cut TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Cormark downgraded TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

TELUS Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $21.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.32.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.13%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 226.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in TELUS by 1,756.0% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $120,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth $142,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter valued at $146,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.