Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Raises Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. raised its position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,060,819 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after buying an additional 279,000 shares during the quarter. TELUS comprises about 1.6% of Nicola Wealth Management LTD.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. owned about 0.07% of TELUS worth $17,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TU. Gold Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of TELUS by 0.7% in the second quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 93,275 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of TELUS by 1.8% in the second quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,453 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $567,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of TELUS by 60.4% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in shares of TELUS by 19.0% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of TELUS in the second quarter valued at $27,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TELUS Stock Down 2.6 %

TU traded down $0.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $15.18. 4,006,972 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,297,761. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $16.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $14.63 and a 12-month high of $19.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.75.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The company's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. Analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.297 dividend. This is a boost from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 244.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank upgraded TELUS from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered TELUS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's 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 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.