National Bank Financial Downgrades TELUS (TSE:T) to Hold

National Bank Financial lowered shares of TELUS (TSE:T) (NYSE:TU) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of TELUS from C$26.00 to C$25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays cut their price target on TELUS from C$24.00 to C$23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on TELUS from C$24.00 to C$25.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Cormark reduced their target price on TELUS from C$26.00 to C$25.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on TELUS from C$24.00 to C$23.25 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$24.31.

TELUS Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of TELUS stock opened at C$20.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 171.58, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$21.89 and a 200-day moving average of C$21.96. TELUS has a 52-week low of C$20.04 and a 52-week high of C$25.07. The stock has a market cap of C$30.68 billion, a PE ratio of 39.11, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.402 per share. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 294.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TELUS

In other news, Director Marc Parent purchased 19,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$22.04 per share, for a total transaction of C$420,964.00. Also, Director Victor George Dodig acquired 100,000 shares of TELUS stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$21.38 per share, for a total transaction of C$2,138,000.00. Company insiders own 0.02% 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.