Capital Research Global Investors Cuts Stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Capital Research Global Investors cut its holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,729,180 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 598,018 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors owned 0.92% of TELUS worth $186,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in TELUS by 1,756.0% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 4,548 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter worth $146,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in TELUS in the fourth quarter worth about $190,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on TU shares. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cormark downgraded shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TELUS presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TELUS stock opened at $15.00 on Monday. TELUS Co. has a 52 week low of $13.24 and a 52 week high of $17.27. The company has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.07%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.55%. TELUS’s payout ratio is 226.53%.

TELUS Company 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.