Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Buys 159,359 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,531,717 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after purchasing an additional 159,359 shares during the quarter. TELUS makes up about 1.7% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. owned about 0.44% of TELUS worth $88,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in TELUS by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 88,180 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in TELUS by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,733 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC increased its position in TELUS by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,492 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,901 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in TELUS by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 87,419 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $1,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840 shares during the period. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its position in TELUS by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,980 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the period. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TU has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday. Cormark lowered shares of TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America lowered shares of TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TELUS has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.50.

TELUS Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE TU traded up $0.08 on Friday, hitting $15.78. 1,957,446 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,910,302. The company has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.73. TELUS Co. has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month high of $17.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.81 and a 200-day moving average of $14.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2989 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This is a positive change from TELUS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.58%. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is currently 234.69%.

About TELUS

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.