TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,078,611 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 253,218 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.62% of TELUS worth $137,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TU. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in TELUS by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,252,092 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $20,050,000 after purchasing an additional 126,488 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in TELUS by 5.4% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,472,610 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $188,835,000 after acquiring an additional 636,845 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in TELUS by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,834,015 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $406,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,988 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 1st quarter valued at $1,991,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter worth $376,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:TU traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.77. 1,611,082 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,261,000. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. TELUS Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.63 and a fifty-two week high of $19.14. The company has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a PE ratio of 43.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.14.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 3.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.284 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.77%. This is a boost from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. TELUS's payout ratio is presently 294.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group cut TELUS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, TELUS presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.33.

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.