Barclays PLC Buys 129,934 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 38.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after purchasing an additional 129,934 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC's holdings in TELUS were worth $7,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in TELUS by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS in the 2nd quarter worth about $141,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in TELUS by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 93,275 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its position in TELUS by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 378,086 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $5,721,000 after acquiring an additional 46,773 shares during the period. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in TELUS by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 85,648 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 10,141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Stock Performance

NYSE TU traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.87. The company had a trading volume of 4,863,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,395,188. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.94. TELUS Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.74 and a fifty-two week high of $18.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. TELUS had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.297 dividend. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.57%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS's payout ratio is currently 253.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on TU shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday. They set an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Scotiabank raised TELUS from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. National Bank Financial downgraded TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.00.

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.