Guggenheim Capital LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 215.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,535 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after acquiring an additional 35,183 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in TELUS were worth $699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in TELUS by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 30,219,141 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $409,662,000 after buying an additional 6,659,564 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,212,000. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. increased its stake in TELUS by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 2,236,163 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $30,299,000 after purchasing an additional 912,277 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in TELUS by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,801,407 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $349,841,000 after purchasing an additional 903,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,325,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TELUS Stock Performance

NYSE TU traded up $0.11 during trading on Monday, reaching $15.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,790,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,860,088. The business's fifty day moving average price is $14.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.89. TELUS Co. has a twelve month low of $13.24 and a twelve month high of $17.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70.

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

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.