Centre Asset Management LLC Invests $6.95 Million in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Centre Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 512,207 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,946,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 70,573 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 3,752 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in TELUS by 128.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 284,219 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $4,303,000 after acquiring an additional 159,831 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 70,821 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 2,347 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 4.0% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 82,149 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 3,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in TELUS by 3.0% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 41,711,861 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $631,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208,720 shares during the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TELUS Trading Up 0.7 %

TELUS stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $13.73. The stock had a trading volume of 254,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,671,826. TELUS Co. has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $18.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.72. The stock has a market cap of $20.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.297 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.65%. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 253.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TU. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank upgraded TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com downgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, TELUS presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

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.