Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Holdings in TELUS Corporation $TU

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. has reduced its holdings in TELUS Corporation by 14.9%, selling 61,093 shares, and now owns 347,935 shares valued at approximately $4.98 million.
• TELUS recently reported earnings of $0.16 EPS, missing analysts' expectations of $0.17, although it achieved revenue of $3.74 billion, exceeding forecasts.
• The company has increased its dividend from $0.30 to $0.3019 per share, representing an annualized yield of 7.3% and a payout ratio of 263.04%.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. decreased its stake in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 14.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 347,935 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 61,093 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in TELUS were worth $4,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TU. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 971 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 4,497 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $120,000. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 6,624 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

TELUS Trading Up 0.2%

TU stock traded up $0.0350 during trading on Friday, reaching $16.5850. 2,990,996 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,984,941. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $16.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.57. TELUS Corporation has a 1 year low of $13.24 and a 1 year high of $17.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued 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 return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 4.67%.The firm had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. TELUS's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 7.3%. This is a boost 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 presently 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.