JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Purchases 17,256 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd grew its position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 728,668 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,256 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in TELUS were worth $9,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TU. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $7,839,000 after buying an additional 129,934 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in TELUS by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 119,665 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after acquiring an additional 5,286 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,017,200 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $13,785,000 after acquiring an additional 65,940 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 2,225,265 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $30,103,000 after acquiring an additional 38,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,091,751 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $14,795,000 after purchasing an additional 234,652 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $15.94 on Friday. TELUS Co. has a 1 year low of $13.24 and a 1 year high of $17.27. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $14.80 and its 200 day moving average is $14.83. The company has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.10%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 226.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America cut TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Cormark cut shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six research 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.