Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Sells 13,280 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 83.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,699 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 13,280 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in TELUS were worth $48,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,837 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 18.1% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,669 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of TELUS by 80.8% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in TELUS by 4.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 22,341 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in TELUS by 5.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 20,125 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $15.69 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.84 and its 200 day moving average is $17.28. TELUS Co. has a 52 week low of $15.35 and a 52 week high of $21.34.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.01. TELUS had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 4.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.2793 dividend. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. TELUS’s payout ratio is 258.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (down previously from $28.00) on shares of TELUS in a research note on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered TELUS from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on TELUS from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TELUS currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.