TELUS Corporation $TU Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia trimmed its stake in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,771,788 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 6,641,810 shares during the period. TELUS accounts for 0.6% of Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 1.30% of TELUS worth $317,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of TELUS by 26.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,227 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in TELUS by 169.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,658 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 2,301 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in TELUS by 67.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the first quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the second quarter valued at approximately $161,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Performance

TELUS stock opened at $13.53 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.62. TELUS Corporation has a 1-year low of $12.80 and a 1-year high of $16.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $20.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.67.

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 firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be paid a $0.4184 dividend. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.4%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 220.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TU. Barclays lowered their price target on TELUS from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed 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. National Bankshares reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Thursday. Natl Bk Canada raised shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of TELUS to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.