Swiss National Bank Sells 45,200 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Swiss National Bank lessened its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,428,265 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 45,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.10% of TELUS worth $19,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in TELUS by 24.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,160,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $438,922,000 after acquiring an additional 5,094,269 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in TELUS by 0.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,701,819 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $112,610,000 after acquiring an additional 49,088 shares during the period. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in TELUS by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,403,521 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $46,088,000 after acquiring an additional 169,577 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in TELUS by 13.5% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,666,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $44,785,000 after acquiring an additional 317,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in TELUS by 8.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,335,660 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $40,238,000 after acquiring an additional 177,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

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TELUS Stock Down 4.9 %

NYSE TU traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $13.94. 5,821,011 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,724,056. The business's 50-day moving average is $14.84 and its 200-day moving average is $15.30. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $21.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72.

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 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.12%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 226.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. National Bank Financial cut TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on TELUS in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an "equal weight" rating for the company. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cormark cut TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TELUS presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.00.

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.