Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, May 19, 2017

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP., $45.66, Toronto symbol T, is Canada’s second-largest wireless carrier, after Rogers Communications, with 8.6 million subscribers. In addition, its wireline business serves 1.35 million traditional phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. That operation also has 1.7 million Internet users and 1.1 million TV subscribers. Starting with the July 2017 payment, the company will increase its quarterly dividend by 2.6%, to $0.4925 a share from $0.48. The new annual rate of $1.97 yields a high 4.3%. In the three months ended March 31, 2017, Telus earned $433 million, or $0.73 a share. That’s up 14.6% from $378 million, or $0.64 a share, a year earlier. If you disregard unusual items, earnings per share in the quarter gained 5.7%, to $0.74 from $0.70. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.71. Revenue gained 2.9%, to $3.2 billion from $3.1 billion, matching the consensus forecast. Telus lost 9,000 wireless subscribers in the latest quarter, net of cancellations. However, that’s a big improvement over the 25,000…