CIBC Asset Management Inc Sells 2,305,313 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

CIBC Asset Management Inc decreased its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,099,304 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 2,305,313 shares during the period. TELUS accounts for approximately 1.1% of CIBC Asset Management Inc's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. CIBC Asset Management Inc owned approximately 1.35% of TELUS worth $338,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in TELUS by 11.2% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,252,092 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $20,050,000 after buying an additional 126,488 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in TELUS by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,472,610 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $188,835,000 after purchasing an additional 636,845 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in TELUS during the third quarter worth $945,000. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. raised its position in shares of TELUS by 35.7% in the third quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 1,060,819 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $17,801,000 after purchasing an additional 279,000 shares during the period. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 130.4% during the 1st quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 56,840 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 32,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on TU. Scotiabank upgraded shares of TELUS from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered TELUS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, TELUS has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU stock remained flat at $15.18 during trading on Friday. The company had a trading volume of 1,459,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,293,984. The company has a market cap of $22.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.75. TELUS Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.63 and a fifty-two week high of $19.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $16.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.11.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. TELUS's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.297 per share. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is 244.69%.

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.