TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Stock Holdings Decreased by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,177,634 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 143,958 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in TELUS were worth $83,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in TELUS by 195,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in TELUS by 1,756.0% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new stake in TELUS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $146,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 3,110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $14.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.28, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.17. TELUS Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.24 and a fifty-two week high of $17.27.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its earnings results 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. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.89%. TELUS’s payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Cormark lowered TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America downgraded TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, National Bank Financial cut shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.