Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. Decreases Position in TELUS Corporation $TU

Key Points

• Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. reduced its stake in TELUS Corporation by 24.3%, now holding 885,468 shares valued at approximately $14.19 million after selling 284,295 shares.
• TELUS reported a quarterly earnings miss with earnings per share of $0.16, falling short of the $0.17 estimate, while its revenue increased by 2.2% year-over-year to $3.74 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.3019 per share, representing an annual yield of 7.9%, despite a high payout ratio of 263.04%.

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 885,468 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 284,295 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. owned 0.06% of TELUS worth $14,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in TELUS by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 971 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in TELUS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $883,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in TELUS by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,921,762 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $27,567,000 after buying an additional 64,300 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in TELUS by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,784 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $155,000 after buying an additional 795 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in TELUS by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,423 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on TU. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TELUS currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.50.

TELUS Stock Performance

NYSE TU opened at $15.24 on Monday. TELUS Corporation has a 52-week low of $13.24 and a 52-week high of $16.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $23.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.04 and a 200-day moving average of $15.80.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 4.67%.The company had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th were given a $0.3019 dividend. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 10th. This is a boost from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. TELUS's dividend payout ratio 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.

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 and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.