TELUS Corporation $TU Stock Purchased by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 51.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,296,867 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 437,801 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in TELUS were worth $10,881,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in TELUS by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 21,108,090 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $271,237,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,734 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,058,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,196,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 24,075,122 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $309,159,000 after buying an additional 4,258,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays set a $10.00 price target on TELUS and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Desjardins lowered TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. National Bank Financial cut TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on TELUS in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

TELUS Trading Up 5.4%

Shares of TU stock opened at $8.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 19.87 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. TELUS Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $7.64 and a fifty-two week high of $15.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.57.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.04). TELUS had a positive return on equity of 8.01% and a negative net margin of 4.51%. The business had revenue of $3.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.55 billion. On average, analysts forecast that TELUS Corporation will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were issued a dividend of C$0.19 per share. This is a decrease from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of C$0.42. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.5%. TELUS’s payout ratio is -131.71%.

About TELUS

TELUS Corporation is a Canadian communications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It provides telecommunications and digital services to consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations, primarily in Canada.

Its core offerings include wireless voice and data services, high-speed internet, television, home security and fixed-line voice services. TELUS also provides business connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, information technology and communications solutions.