Squarepoint Ops LLC Makes New Investment in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 69,482 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $942,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $70,212,000. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 2,236,163 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $30,299,000 after purchasing an additional 912,277 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $349,841,000 after purchasing an additional 903,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth about $12,325,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TU has been the topic of several research reports. National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America cut TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Cormark cut TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU stock opened at $16.37 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.85. TELUS Co. has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $17.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.78 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.2989 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.30%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 201.75%.

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.