622,200 Shares in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) Bought by Forge First Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Forge First Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in TELUS Corporation, purchasing 622,200 shares valued at approximately $8.9 million, making it the fund's 10th largest holding.
• TELUS recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.2989 per share, representing a yield of 7.7% and a payout ratio of 212.28%.
• Major institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and CIBC Private Wealth Group, have significantly increased their stakes in TELUS, with nearly 49.40% of the stock owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Forge First Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 622,200 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,937,000. TELUS accounts for 3.8% of Forge First Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,232,693 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $667,840,000 after purchasing an additional 9,068,181 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in TELUS by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 30,219,141 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $409,662,000 after buying an additional 6,659,564 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in TELUS by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,801,407 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $349,841,000 after buying an additional 903,921 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its stake in TELUS by 68.2% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,099,097 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $28,463,000 after buying an additional 850,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,032,404 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $42,389,000 after purchasing an additional 696,744 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TU. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, TELUS currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.50.

TELUS Price Performance

NYSE TU traded up $0.12 during trading on Monday, reaching $15.72. 2,306,513 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,237,614. TELUS Corporation has a 1-year low of $13.24 and a 1-year high of $17.26. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $16.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). TELUS had a net margin of 4.67% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The business's revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3019 per share. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. This is a positive change from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is presently 263.04%.

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.