TELUS Corporation $TU Shares Sold 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. lessened its holdings in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. 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 SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted 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 worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 112,425.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,501 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 4,497 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $120,000. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its position 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 worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of TELUS by 175.4% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Stock Up 0.3%

TELUS stock traded up $0.0550 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.6050. The company had a trading volume of 557,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,348,444. The stock has a market cap of $25.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.73. TELUS Corporation has a 1 year low of $13.24 and a 1 year high of $17.26. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $16.22 and a 200 day moving average of $15.55.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. This is a boost from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. TELUS's payout ratio is 263.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. National Bankshares restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.