TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Shares Sold by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its stake in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 60.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 490,115 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 761,977 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in TELUS were worth $7,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of TELUS by 39.8% in the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 2,752 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 1st quarter worth about $58,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 1st quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 2nd quarter worth about $123,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.33.

TELUS Price Performance

NYSE:TU opened at $16.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.14. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $14.63 and a 12-month high of $19.14.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 8.50%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. Research analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.284 per share. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 294.87%.

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.