Aviso Financial Inc. Decreases Position in TELUS Corporation $TU

Aviso Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 288,660 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 85,838 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in TELUS were worth $4,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in TELUS by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,227 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the period. Walter Public Investments Inc. lifted its stake in TELUS by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 38,584 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings 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 valued at $739,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,716 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,033 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TELUS Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of TU stock opened at $12.98 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.01 and its 200-day moving average is $15.79. TELUS Corporation has a 52-week low of $12.93 and a 52-week high of $16.74. The stock has a market cap of $19.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.76.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. TELUS’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that TELUS Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.4184 per share. This is a positive change from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is 216.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $19.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of TELUS in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of TELUS in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TELUS currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.17.

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.