Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 52,491 Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in TELUS Corporation by 59.5% in the first quarter, owning 140,671 shares worth approximately $2,017,000 after acquiring an additional 52,491 shares.
• TELUS recently reported earnings of $0.16 per share for the quarter, falling short of the expected $0.17, although revenue was up by 2.2% year-over-year at $3.74 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.3019 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $1.21 and a yield of 7.5%, effective October 1st.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 59.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 140,671 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after purchasing an additional 52,491 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in TELUS were worth $2,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 8.0% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,784 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 10.5% during the first quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,423 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 2.2% during the first quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,819 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 71.9% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 5.3% during the first quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,627 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TELUS Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of TELUS stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.06. The company had a trading volume of 2,598,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,407,564. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.73. TELUS Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $13.24 and a fifty-two week high of $17.26.

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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.63 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 4.67%. TELUS's revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.3019 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. TELUS's payout ratio is presently 263.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.50.

TELUS Company Profile

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.