Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Buys 7,840,264 Shares of TELUS Corporation $TU

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has significantly increased its stake in TELUS Corporation by 196.2%, acquiring an additional 7,840,264 shares, bringing its total ownership to 11,836,479 shares valued at approximately $169.7 million.
• TELUS Corporation has recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.30 to $0.3019 per share, representing a 7.6% yield on an annualized basis.
• The company reported earnings per share of $0.16 for the most recent quarter, falling short of the consensus estimate of $0.17, with a revenue increase of 2.2% year-over-year.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 196.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,836,479 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,840,264 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.78% of TELUS worth $169,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 779,525 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $10,570,000 after buying an additional 230,234 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in TELUS by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 528,246 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $7,249,000 after acquiring an additional 107,806 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in TELUS by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 239,792 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $3,252,000 after acquiring an additional 103,967 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in TELUS by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 29,212 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 4,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in TELUS by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,014,589 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $13,758,000 after purchasing an additional 71,118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.50.

TELUS Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $15.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.86. TELUS Corporation has a 52-week low of $13.24 and a 52-week high of $17.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.33 and a 200 day moving average of $15.70.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.01). TELUS had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 4.67%.The firm had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. This is an increase from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.6%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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