TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Shares Acquired by Claret Asset Management Corp

Claret Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 196.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 237,817 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 157,723 shares during the quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp’s holdings in TELUS were worth $3,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TU. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 4,548 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS during the fourth quarter valued at about $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth about $190,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Trading Up 1.6 %

TU opened at $15.00 on Friday. TELUS Co. has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month high of $17.27. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.55%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TU has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America downgraded shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Cormark lowered TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.