The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 253,218 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its holdings in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,078,611 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 253,218 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.62% of TELUS worth $137,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in TELUS during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in TELUS by 60.4% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 954 shares in the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its holdings in TELUS by 39.8% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 2,752 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 784 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in TELUS during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS during the 1st quarter worth approximately $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Up 0.7 %

TU stock opened at $16.77 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $16.32 and a 200 day moving average of $16.14. The firm has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a PE ratio of 43.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.74. TELUS Co. has a twelve month low of $14.63 and a twelve month high of $19.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 3.87%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.284 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.77%. TELUS’s payout ratio is 294.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TU has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.33.

About TELUS

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.