Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. decreased its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 800,600 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 7,400 shares during the period. TELUS comprises about 4.3% of Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. owned 0.05% of TELUS worth $10,844,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,001 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 155,212 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 4,822 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 44,910 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 12,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 3rd quarter valued at $187,000. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of TU opened at $15.39 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $14.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.73, a PEG ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. TELUS Co. has a 1-year low of $13.24 and a 1-year high of $18.16.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 8.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is 242.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TU. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

TELUS Profile

TELUS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of telecommunications and information technology products and services in Canada. It operates through Technology Solutions and Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers a range of telecommunications products and services; network services; healthcare services; mobile technologies equipment; data services, such as internet protocol; television; hosting, managed information technology, and cloud-based services; software, data management, and data analytics-driven smart food-chain and consumer goods technologies; home and business security; healthcare software and technology solutions; and voice and other telecommunications services, as well as mobile and fixed voice and data telecommunications services and products.