AGF Management Ltd. Has $11.36 Million Holdings in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU)

Key Points

• AGF Management Ltd. has reduced its stake in TELUS Corporation by 12.0% during the first quarter, now holding approximately 0.05% of the company.
• Institutional investors collectively own 49.40% of TELUS's stock, with several hedge funds, including Farther Finance Advisors LLC and NBC Securities Inc., increasing their holdings significantly in the same quarter.
• TELUS recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.3019, representing an annualized yield of 7.5% and a payout ratio of 263.04%.

AGF Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 768,123 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 104,286 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd. owned 0.05% of TELUS worth $11,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position 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 during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in TELUS by 112,425.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,501 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 4,497 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at $120,000. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake 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 valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in TELUS by 175.4% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 6,624 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Price Performance

TU traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,502,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,161,434. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $16.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. TELUS Corporation has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month high of $17.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.73.

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

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 7.4%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is presently 263.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on TU. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.50.

TELUS 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.