Vest Financial LLC Raises Stake in TELUS Corporation $TU

Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 62.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 181,389 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after buying an additional 70,006 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in TELUS were worth $2,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 20.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,529,471 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $76,335,000 after purchasing an additional 780,607 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in TELUS by 1.6% in the second quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 18,842,084 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $302,519,000 after purchasing an additional 288,532 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in TELUS during the second quarter worth about $51,091,000. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in TELUS in the 2nd quarter worth about $531,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $457,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE:TU opened at $13.64 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $13.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.66. TELUS Corporation has a 12 month low of $12.54 and a 12 month high of $16.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 8.76%. TELUS’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Research analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th were paid a $0.4184 dividend. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.3%. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is currently 218.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on TU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $19.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Citigroup raised shares of TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.17.

TELUS Profile

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.