DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co Increases Stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co boosted its position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 192,634 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,472 shares during the quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co’s holdings in TELUS were worth $2,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in TELUS by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,001 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 77,198 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 449,777 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $7,547,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 87,419 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840 shares during the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on TU shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

TELUS Stock Performance

TU opened at $15.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $23.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day moving average is $14.23 and its 200 day moving average is $15.41. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $13.24 and a 12-month high of $18.16.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is 232.65%.

TELUS 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.