TELUS Corporation $TU Holdings Trimmed by Citigroup Inc.

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. reduced its holdings in TELUS Corporation by 6.0%, now owning 449,232 shares valued at approximately $6.44 million.
• TELUS reported $0.16 EPS for the last quarter, slightly missing the consensus estimate of $0.17, with a revenue of $3.74 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.3019, offering a yield of 7.4%, with a payout ratio of 263.04%.

Citigroup Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 449,232 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 28,443 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.'s holdings in TELUS were worth $6,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in TELUS by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,232,693 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $667,840,000 after acquiring an additional 9,068,181 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,185,917 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $375,585,000 after purchasing an additional 384,510 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in TELUS by 4.7% during the first quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 18,553,552 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $266,146,000 after purchasing an additional 831,282 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in TELUS by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 16,270,907 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $233,606,000 after buying an additional 192,599 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in TELUS by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,344,369 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $140,086,000 after buying an additional 475,625 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TELUS Stock Performance

TU stock opened at $16.39 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The company has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.73. TELUS Corporation has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month high of $17.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.51.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.74 billion during 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 business's revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a $0.3019 dividend. This is a positive change from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. TELUS's payout ratio is presently 263.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on TU. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted 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, National Bankshares reaffirmed 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 company. According to MarketBeat, TELUS currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.

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