Natixis Boosts Stock Position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Natixis raised its holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 665,956 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after acquiring an additional 115,727 shares during the quarter. Natixis' holdings in TELUS were worth $9,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TU. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in TELUS by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 30,219,141 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $409,662,000 after purchasing an additional 6,659,564 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of TELUS by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,801,407 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $349,841,000 after buying an additional 903,921 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,993,662 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $149,074,000 after acquiring an additional 326,531 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in TELUS by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,254,608 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $98,372,000 after acquiring an additional 509,976 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in TELUS during the 4th quarter worth about $70,212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Stock Down 0.4 %

TU traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $14.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,952,791 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,859,106. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. TELUS Co. has a twelve month low of $13.24 and a twelve month high of $17.27. The company has a market capitalization of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70.

TELUS (NYSE:TU - Get Free Report) TSE: T last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.55%. TELUS's payout ratio is 226.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TU shares. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Cormark downgraded TELUS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America lowered TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold".

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.