Balentine LLC Raises Stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Balentine LLC lifted its position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,737 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,176 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in TELUS were worth $246,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TU. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in TELUS by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,789,027 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $356,033,000 after acquiring an additional 387,561 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in TELUS by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 489,969 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $8,001,000 after acquiring an additional 65,287 shares in the last quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lifted its position in TELUS by 1,824.2% during the 4th quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 788,077 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $14,050,000 after acquiring an additional 747,120 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its position in TELUS by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 3,166,300 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $51,944,000 after acquiring an additional 46,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its position in shares of TELUS by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 25,283 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 11,451 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of TELUS stock opened at $16.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $16.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.24. The company has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. TELUS Co. has a 1 year low of $15.35 and a 1 year high of $19.91.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.282 dividend. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 284.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TU. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target (down from $28.00) on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on TELUS from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.72.

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.