Claret Asset Management Corp Grows Stock Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Claret Asset Management Corp raised its position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 196.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 237,817 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after buying an additional 157,723 shares during the quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp's holdings in TELUS were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TU. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 28.3% during 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in TELUS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,212,000. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 2,236,163 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $30,299,000 after buying an additional 912,277 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,801,407 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $349,841,000 after acquiring an additional 903,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new position in TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $12,325,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company's stock.

TELUS Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of TU stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $15.07. The stock had a trading volume of 822,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,855,562. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.81 billion, a PE ratio of 30.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. TELUS Co. has a 52-week low of $13.24 and a 52-week high of $17.26. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $14.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.92.

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

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.51%. TELUS's payout ratio is 226.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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