TELUS (NYSE:TU) Trading 3.8% Higher - What's Next?

TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T's stock price traded up 3.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $14.49 and last traded at $14.53. 2,655,730 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 2,736,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an "equal weight" rating for the company. Bank of America cut TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. National Bank Financial cut shares of TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Cormark lowered shares of TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

TELUS Trading Down 3.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $20.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 38.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $7,839,000 after buying an additional 129,934 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in TELUS by 192.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,326,632 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $22,257,000 after acquiring an additional 872,235 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its stake in TELUS by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,666,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $44,785,000 after purchasing an additional 317,000 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its holdings in TELUS by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,017,200 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $13,785,000 after purchasing an additional 65,940 shares during the period. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC boosted its holdings in TELUS by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 2,225,265 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $30,103,000 after purchasing an additional 38,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company's stock.

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.