Forsta AP Fonden Sells 69,100 Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU)

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden reduced its stake in TELUS Corporation by 19.2% in Q1, selling 69,100 shares, and now owns 291,200 shares valued at $4.17 million.
• Despite the stake reduction by Forsta AP Fonden, other institutional investors like Mackenzie Financial Corp and Man Group plc increased their holdings in TELUS during the same period.
• TELUS recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3019, representing a slight increase and a dividend yield of 7.5%.

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 19.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 291,200 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 69,100 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in TELUS were worth $4,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of TELUS by 71.9% in the first 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 in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of TELUS by 112,425.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,501 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 4,497 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $120,000. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its position in shares of TELUS by 10.5% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of TELUS by 175.4% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 6,624 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

TELUS Price Performance

TU traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $16.39. The stock had a trading volume of 2,502,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,161,434. The stock has a market cap of $24.99 billion, a PE ratio of 35.63, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.86. TELUS Corporation has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $17.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $16.19 and a 200-day moving average of $15.50.

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

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3019 per share. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. This is an increase from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. TELUS's payout ratio is 263.04%.

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.