Virtu Financial LLC Takes Position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 57,594 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock, valued at approximately $781,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,160,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $438,922,000 after buying an additional 5,094,269 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in TELUS by 192.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,326,632 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $22,257,000 after acquiring an additional 872,235 shares in the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC bought a new position in TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at $6,946,000. Summit Global Investments raised its position in TELUS by 533.3% during the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 432,437 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $5,864,000 after purchasing an additional 364,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in TELUS by 13.5% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,666,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $44,785,000 after purchasing an additional 317,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TU has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on TELUS in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Bank of America lowered TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Cormark downgraded shares of TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut shares of TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold".

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU traded down $0.02 on Friday, reaching $14.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,138,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,750,162. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $13.24 and a 12-month high of $17.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $14.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.23.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.2829 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is currently 226.53%.

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.