TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Shares Sold by Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,823,602 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 141,765 shares during the period. TELUS accounts for 2.0% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings in TELUS were worth $103,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TU. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in TELUS by 215.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,214,210 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $395,314,000 after purchasing an additional 15,179,110 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 40,669,392 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $727,275,000 after acquiring an additional 6,334,692 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $109,327,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $82,775,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in TELUS by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 28,705,377 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $511,646,000 after purchasing an additional 3,860,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Price Performance

TELUS stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $16.86. The company had a trading volume of 1,879,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,911,772. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.22. The company has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.74. TELUS Co. has a 1 year low of $14.63 and a 1 year high of $19.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.09. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 3.87%. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.284 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is 292.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.33.

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.