TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Decreases Position in TELUS Corporation $TU

Key Points

• TD Waterhouse Canada reduced its TELUS stake by 20.2%, selling 2,329,942 shares and ending the quarter with 9,227,684 shares (about 0.60% of the company) valued at $121.4 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed with a consensus rating of Hold (3 Buy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell) and a $17.63 consensus price target, amid recent upgrades and downgrades from firms including Bank of America and Scotiabank.
• TELUS missed the quarter with $0.15 EPS vs. $0.18 expected and $3.83B revenue, and although it pays a large dividend (annualized $1.67, yield 13.5%), the payout ratio is an elevated ~236.5%, raising sustainability concerns.

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. trimmed its position in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,227,684 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 2,329,942 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. owned approximately 0.60% of TELUS worth $121,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in TELUS by 35.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in TELUS during the second quarter worth $61,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in TELUS by 23.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,994 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in TELUS during the third quarter worth $64,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank downgraded TELUS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Bank of America upgraded TELUS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. TD Securities downgraded TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $17.63.

TELUS Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $12.40 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. TELUS Corporation has a 52-week low of $11.69 and a 52-week high of $16.74. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $13.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.66. The company has a market capitalization of $19.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.68.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.03). TELUS had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The company had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a $0.4184 dividend. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is currently 236.54%.

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.

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.