Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Sells 394,072 Shares of TELUS Corporation $TU

Key Points

• Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. reduced its stake in TELUS Corporation by 65.8%, selling 394,072 shares and retaining 205,142 shares worth approximately $2.94 million.
• TELUS reported earnings of $0.16 per share, slightly missing estimates, but achieved revenue of $3.74 billion, surpassing projections of $3.63 billion, marking a 2.2% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.3019 per share, resulting in a dividend yield of 7.4%, with a payout ratio of 263.04%.

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 65.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,142 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 394,072 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s holdings in TELUS were worth $2,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anson Funds Management LP grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 66.7% during the first quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 250,000 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,712,000. Aviso Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 11.1% during the first quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 374,498 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $5,373,000 after purchasing an additional 37,518 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 6.1% during the first quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 47,662 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 2,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 28.6% during the first quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 645,893 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $9,270,000 after purchasing an additional 143,542 shares during the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.50.

TELUS Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE TU traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $16.51. 2,678,941 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,824,936. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.81. TELUS Corporation has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month high of $17.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.64. The company has a market capitalization of $25.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.72.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.3019 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This is a boost from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.3%. TELUS's payout ratio is currently 260.87%.

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.