Wells Fargo & Company MN Reduces Stock Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Wells Fargo & Company MN cut its holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU - Free Report) TSE: T by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 97,024 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 28,946 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN's holdings in TELUS were worth $1,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in TELUS by 195,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of TELUS by 1,756.0% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter worth $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new stake in TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at $146,000. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in TELUS during the 4th quarter valued at $279,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TU shares. 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 cut shares of TELUS from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised TELUS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold".

TELUS Stock Up 1.5 %

TU traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.38. 2,237,301 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,856,095. TELUS Co. has a 1 year low of $13.24 and a 1 year high of $17.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.29 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $14.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.88.

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

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS's dividend payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

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.