Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stake in TELUS Corporation $TU

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has increased its holdings in TELUS Corporation by 1.5%, owning 26,185,917 shares worth approximately $375.6 million following an additional purchase of 384,510 shares.
• TELUS reported a miss on earnings per share for the latest quarter, with $0.16 EPS compared to the consensus estimate of $0.17, but its revenue increased by 2.2% year-over-year.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3019 per share with a yield of 7.4%, up from the previous $0.30, reflecting its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,185,917 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after acquiring an additional 384,510 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 1.73% of TELUS worth $375,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 22.6% in the fourth 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. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 4.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 831,282 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 1.2% in the first quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 16,270,907 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $233,606,000 after acquiring an additional 192,599 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,344,369 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $140,086,000 after acquiring an additional 475,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,320,442 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $99,179,000 after acquiring an additional 618,623 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Trading Up 0.1%

TELUS stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, reaching $16.56. 2,056,958 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,008,715. TELUS Corporation has a 52-week low of $13.24 and a 52-week high of $17.26. The company has a market capitalization of $25.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.00, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $16.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.55.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a $0.3019 dividend. This is an increase from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 263.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TU shares. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on 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 restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, TELUS presently has an average 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.