Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 163,202 Shares of TELUS Corporation $TU

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,348,978 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 163,202 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.35% of TELUS worth $70,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TU. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 3rd quarter valued at $64,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of TELUS by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 4,585 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. Finally, One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter valued at $137,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities upgraded shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.33.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TU opened at $12.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $19.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $12.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.06. TELUS Corporation has a 52-week low of $11.69 and a 52-week high of $16.74.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 8.29%. TELUS’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.4184 dividend. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.55%.

About TELUS

TELUS Corporation (NYSE: TU) is a Canadian telecommunications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It delivers a broad portfolio of consumer and business communications services across Canada, including mobile wireless, fixed-line voice, broadband internet, and television. TELUS also provides a range of enterprise services such as cloud and IT solutions, managed network services, cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings for business customers.

Beyond core connectivity, TELUS has expanded into health and digital services.