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

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 450,122 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 43,569 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's holdings in TELUS were worth $6,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 38.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $7,839,000 after purchasing an additional 129,934 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in TELUS by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,335,660 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $40,238,000 after acquiring an additional 177,953 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in TELUS in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $320,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Centre Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $6,946,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Trading Down 0.4 %

TU traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $14.98. 1,952,791 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,864,384. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock's 50-day moving average is $14.86 and its 200 day moving average is $14.89. 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 $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of 30.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.55%. TELUS's payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on TU shares. Cormark downgraded TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America lowered TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold".

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.