Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 43,569 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 450,122 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 43,569 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in TELUS were worth $6,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in TELUS by 195,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 1,756.0% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new position in TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $146,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in TELUS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $190,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TU has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Cormark lowered TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

TELUS Stock Up 1.0 %

TELUS stock opened at $15.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. TELUS Co. has a 52-week low of $13.24 and a 52-week high of $17.27. The firm has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.07%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.2829 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 226.53%.

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.