Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Sells 2,647,564 Shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU)

Key Points

• Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in TELUS Corporation by 85.7%, owning 442,082 shares after selling over 2.6 million shares in the first quarter.
• TELUS reported $0.16 EPS for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.01, while its revenue of $3.74 billion exceeded expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.3019 per share, representing a yield of 7.5%, which indicates a slight increase from its previous dividend.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 85.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 442,082 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 2,647,564 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in TELUS were worth $6,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in TELUS by 71.9% during the 1st 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. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,497 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 6,624 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Stock Up 0.8%

TU stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.39. 2,502,812 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,161,434. 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 firm has a market cap of $24.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.73. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $16.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.50. TELUS Corporation has a 1-year low of $13.24 and a 1-year high of $17.26.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.74 billion for 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TU has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, National Bankshares reiterated a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.50.

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.