TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest for TELUS Corporation increased by 247.4% in July, reaching a total of 31,790,000 shares, resulting in a short-interest ratio of 11.1 days.
• Despite reporting earnings of $0.16 per share for the last quarter—which missed analysts' expectations—the company's revenue increased by 2.2% year-over-year, totaling $3.74 billion.
• TELUS has increased its quarterly dividend to $0.2989 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 7.7% and a payout ratio of 212.28%.

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 31,790,000 shares, anincreaseof247.4% from the June 30th total of 9,150,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,870,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 11.1 days. Based on an average trading volume of 2,870,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 11.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on TU. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, May 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TU. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in TELUS by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,232,693 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $667,840,000 after acquiring an additional 9,068,181 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of TELUS by 28.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,659,564 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of TELUS by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,185,917 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $375,585,000 after purchasing an additional 384,510 shares during the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its position in shares of TELUS by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 22,899,251 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $328,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of TELUS by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 18,553,552 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $266,146,000 after purchasing an additional 831,282 shares during the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TELUS Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of TU stock opened at $15.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.91, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.64. TELUS has a fifty-two week low of $13.24 and a fifty-two week high of $17.26.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). TELUS had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 5.78%. The business had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that TELUS will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.2989 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. This is a positive change from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.7%. TELUS's payout ratio is presently 212.28%.

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.

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