TELUS Cuts Quarterly Dividend by 54.67%

TELUS Corporation (NYSE: TU) cut its quarterly dividend by 54.67%, reducing the payment to $0.136 per share from $0.30. The shares traded ex-dividend on September 10, 2026.

The reduction lowers the annual dividend to $0.54 per share. Based on the supplied market data, TELUS has a forward annual yield of 5.66% and a reference share price of $9.09.

The cut ends 10 consecutive years of dividend growth and is the company’s first reduction since 2015. It represents a significant change in capital allocation for a communication-services company that had maintained a long-running record of annual increases.

Why TELUS reset the dividend

TELUS presented the reset as part of a broader effort to strengthen its balance sheet, sharpen operating discipline and direct more cash toward debt reduction. The company said the change, together with asset sales, lower capital intensity and organic free-cash-flow growth, is intended to reduce leverage over time. Its second-quarter release reported net debt equal to 3.5 times adjusted EBITDA and set a goal of approximately 3.0 times or less by the end of 2028. TELUS second-quarter filing

Management also cited competitive pricing pressure and softer subscriber demand associated with slower population growth as constraints on organic free-cash-flow generation. TELUS said its revised outlook reflected pressure in fixed-data operations and TELUS Digital, along with slower-than-expected growth at TELUS Health. TELUS second-quarter filing

The company has withdrawn its dividend-growth model, which had previously been paused, and shifted to a more conservative free-cash-flow payout framework. Future declarations remain subject to the board’s assessment of TELUS’ financial condition and outlook. TELUS dividend information

What it means for income investors

The immediate effect is a lower quarterly cash payment per share, with investors receiving $0.136 instead of $0.30. The resulting annual dividend is $0.54 per share, while the stated forward yield is 5.66%; actual yield will vary with the share price.

TELUS carries a dividend safety score of 67 and a B grade in the supplied data. Those measures indicate comparatively solid underlying coverage, but the reduction shows that management is prioritizing financial flexibility and deleveraging over preserving the previous payout level.