Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,666,551 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 151,309 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.11% of TELUS worth $22,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TU. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter worth about $146,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter worth about $279,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:TU opened at $15.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. TELUS Co. has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $17.27. The firm has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is 226.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TU has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cormark lowered shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. National Bank Financial lowered shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TELUS has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

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.