First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 509,976 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,254,608 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after buying an additional 509,976 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.48% of TELUS worth $98,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TU. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in TELUS by 38.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $7,839,000 after acquiring an additional 129,934 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,335,660 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $40,238,000 after purchasing an additional 177,953 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 3rd quarter valued at $320,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in TELUS by 195,100.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centre Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in TELUS during the fourth quarter worth $6,946,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on TU shares. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cormark cut shares of TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold".

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $15.04. 1,746,222 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,859,358. TELUS Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.24 and a fifty-two week high of $17.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.69, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $14.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.92.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.52%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 226.53%.

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.