TD Asset Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

TD Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,445,822 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 2,271,430 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. owned 2.56% of TELUS worth $521,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter worth about $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $146,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of TELUS by 25.6% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 3,110 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. National Bank Financial downgraded TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on TELUS in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cormark lowered shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

TELUS Price Performance

Shares of TELUS stock opened at $13.80 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $14.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.26. TELUS Co. has a twelve month low of $13.24 and a twelve month high of $17.27.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.2829 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 226.53%.

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.