TELUS (NYSE:TU) Stock Price Down 4.8% - Here's What Happened

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Remove Ads

TELUS Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $14.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.26. The stock has a market cap of $21.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.38, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72.

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

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.14%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is currently 226.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,232,693 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $667,840,000 after acquiring an additional 9,068,181 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 30,219,141 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $409,662,000 after buying an additional 6,659,564 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of TELUS by 24.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,160,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $438,922,000 after buying an additional 5,094,269 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of TELUS by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,801,407 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $349,841,000 after buying an additional 903,921 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in TELUS by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,993,662 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $149,074,000 after acquiring an additional 326,531 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.