Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Increases Stake in TELUS Corporation $TU

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 114.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,450,381 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,439,940 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in TELUS were worth $103,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in TELUS by 26.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,227 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 38,584 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,099 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 11.2% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,482 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of TELUS by 10.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,716 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU opened at $13.29 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.65. The firm has a market cap of $20.39 billion, a PE ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.66. TELUS Corporation has a 12-month low of $12.80 and a 12-month high of $16.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). TELUS had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.4184 per share. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is 216.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on TU shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday. National Bank Financial upgraded TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $19.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Natl Bk Canada upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.17.

TELUS 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.