Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 77,504 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in TELUS were worth $1,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in TELUS during the first quarter worth $58,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in TELUS during the second quarter valued at $123,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in TELUS by 19.0% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TELUS Price Performance

TELUS stock opened at $15.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.06. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $14.63 and a 12-month high of $19.14. The stock has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.75.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.11. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.297 per share. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.82%. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is 253.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group cut TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

About TELUS

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.