Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Buys 126,488 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 11.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,252,092 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after buying an additional 126,488 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.08% of TELUS worth $20,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in TELUS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 39.8% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 2,752 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the first quarter worth approximately $58,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,891 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TU traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $15.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,611,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,650,320. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.72, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $15.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.56. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $14.63 and a 12-month high of $19.14.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. TELUS had a return on equity of 7.90% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.282 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 292.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TELUS has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.20.

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.