Clearbridge Investments LLC Reduces Stock Position in TELUS Corporation $TU

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its holdings in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,348,978 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 163,202 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in TELUS were worth $70,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TU. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 779,692 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $11,181,000 after buying an additional 11,900 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,099 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 159.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,274 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $597,000 after buying an additional 22,912 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 67.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,617,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank cut shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. TD Securities raised shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Bank of America raised shares of TELUS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of TELUS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.33.

TELUS Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE TU opened at $12.18 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.06. The firm has a market cap of $19.16 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.61. TELUS Corporation has a twelve month low of $11.69 and a twelve month high of $16.74.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.29% and a net margin of 4.54%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts expect that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.4184 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.7%. TELUS’s payout ratio is currently 279.55%.

About TELUS

TELUS Corporation (NYSE: TU) is a Canadian telecommunications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It delivers a broad portfolio of consumer and business communications services across Canada, including mobile wireless, fixed-line voice, broadband internet, and television. TELUS also provides a range of enterprise services such as cloud and IT solutions, managed network services, cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings for business customers.

Beyond core connectivity, TELUS has expanded into health and digital services.