Summit Global Investments Raises Position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 533.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 432,437 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after buying an additional 364,149 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in TELUS were worth $5,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS during the fourth quarter valued at about $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new stake in TELUS during the fourth quarter valued at about $146,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in TELUS by 25.6% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on TU. Bank of America downgraded TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. National Bank Financial downgraded TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on TELUS in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Cormark downgraded TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TELUS presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Down 4.9 %

TU opened at $13.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $21.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $14.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. TELUS Co. has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month high of $17.27.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.12%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

TELUS Company 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.