Centre Asset Management LLC Buys New Shares in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Centre Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 512,207 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,946,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of TU. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $7,839,000 after buying an additional 129,934 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its stake in TELUS by 159.6% in the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 140,539 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $2,360,000 after acquiring an additional 86,393 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 192.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,326,632 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $22,257,000 after purchasing an additional 872,235 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $945,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,472,610 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $188,835,000 after purchasing an additional 636,845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on TU shares. StockNews.com downgraded TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TELUS from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set an "equal weight" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $13.78. 2,830,010 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,993,305. TELUS Co. has a twelve month low of $13.24 and a twelve month high of $18.55. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $15.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73.

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

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a $0.297 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.62%. This is an increase from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is 253.19%.

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.