Norges Bank Invests $70.21 Million in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,185,019 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $70,212,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.35% of TELUS at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 1,756.0% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at $146,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares during the period. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TU shares. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Cormark downgraded TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TELUS currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

TELUS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $14.01 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $14.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. TELUS Co. has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $17.27.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.2829 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 226.53%.

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.