Intact Investment Management Inc. Sells 2,201,167 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Intact Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 54.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,857,462 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 2,201,167 shares during the quarter. TELUS accounts for about 0.9% of Intact Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned 0.12% of TELUS worth $25,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 2.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 77,198 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings 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. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 449,777 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $7,547,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 87,419 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 7.5% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 42,341 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU stock opened at $15.01 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.36. The company has a market cap of $22.51 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $13.24 and a 12-month high of $17.27.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.54%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on TU shares. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Cormark lowered TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

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.