Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 116,625 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 409,028 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 116,625 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in TELUS were worth $5,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new position in TELUS in the 4th quarter valued at $146,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position 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 last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TELUS Price Performance

NYSE TU opened at $14.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $22.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.97. TELUS Co. has a 52 week low of $13.24 and a 52 week high of $17.27.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced its quarterly 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 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.63%. TELUS’s payout ratio is 226.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Cormark lowered shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.