TELUS (NYSE:TU) Shares Cross Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T)’s share price crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $8.67 and traded as low as $8.63. TELUS shares last traded at $8.6650, with a volume of 4,387,963 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TU. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $8.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.65 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 6th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.50 billion. TELUS had a positive return on equity of 7.66% and a negative net margin of 10.27%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Corporation will post 0.35 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be given a dividend of C$0.19 per share. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently -57.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TELUS

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the second quarter valued at $255,178,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of TELUS by 21.5% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 24,075,122 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $309,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,258,557 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of TELUS by 20.0% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 14,949,580 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $125,440,000 after acquiring an additional 2,495,296 shares during the last quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of TELUS by 33.6% during the third quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 13,649,828 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $114,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,429,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 2nd quarter worth about $75,058,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About TELUS

TELUS is a Canadian telecommunications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its core services include wireless voice and data, internet, television and home phone offerings, as well as communications and technology solutions for businesses and public-sector organizations. The company also operates TELUS Health, which provides digital health services and technology, and TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods, which offers technology and data solutions for the agriculture and food industries.