Telus skips a dividend hike

Article Excerpt

TELUS $24.53 is a #1 Buy for 2020. The stock (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $31.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.telus.com) is Canada’s third-largest wireless carrier after Rogers Communications (No. 1) and Bell Mobility (No. 2). It also sells traditional phone, Internet and TV services to customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. In January 2020, Telus increased its quarterly dividend by 3.6%, to $0.29125 a share from $0.28125 (all per-share amounts adjusted for 2-for-1 split in March 2020). The new annual rate of $1.165 yields a high 4.8%. The company aims to raise its dividend between 7% and 10% each year from 2020 to 2022. Given uncertainty caused by COVID-19, including the closure of Telus’s stores and the suspension of data overage fees for customers, Telus will delay the next raise until November 2020. 2020…