Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Purchases 148,325 Shares of TELUS Corporation $TU

Key Points

• Letko Brosseau & Associates boosted its TELUS position by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 148,325 shares and bringing its total stake to 6,775,387 shares worth about $89.4 million.
• Several other hedge funds also adjusted holdings in TELUS, and institutional investors now own about 49.4% of the stock.
• Analysts remain mixed on TELUS: the consensus rating is Hold with a $16.33 target price, while the company recently beat EPS estimates but reported slightly weaker-than-expected revenue and maintains a very high dividend yield of 13.6%.

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,775,387 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after purchasing an additional 148,325 shares during the quarter. TELUS makes up 1.5% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. owned 0.44% of TELUS worth $89,416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TU. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of TELUS by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 779,692 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $11,181,000 after purchasing an additional 11,900 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,099 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $739,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 159.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,274 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 22,912 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 67.7% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,617,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of TELUS from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of TELUS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. TD Securities upgraded shares of TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TELUS has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $16.33.

TELUS Stock Performance

TU opened at $12.28 on Wednesday. TELUS Corporation has a 52-week low of $11.69 and a 52-week high of $16.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.61. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $12.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.05.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. TELUS had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 8.29%. The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.4184 dividend. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.55%.

TELUS Company Profile

TELUS Corporation NYSE: TU is a Canadian telecommunications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It delivers a broad portfolio of consumer and business communications services across Canada, including mobile wireless, fixed-line voice, broadband internet, and television. TELUS also provides a range of enterprise services such as cloud and IT solutions, managed network services, cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings for business customers.

Beyond core connectivity, TELUS has expanded into health and digital services.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TU? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.