Gotham Asset Management LLC Buys 90,580 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 117.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 167,781 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,580 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in TELUS were worth $2,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of TELUS by 38.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 467,148 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $7,839,000 after purchasing an additional 129,934 shares during the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in TELUS in the fourth quarter worth about $412,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 2,225,265 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $30,103,000 after buying an additional 38,450 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 3.4% during 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 buying an additional 2,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 4,548 shares during the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Cormark cut shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of TELUS from $20.25 to $21.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, TELUS presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

TELUS Price Performance

TELUS stock opened at $15.69 on Friday. TELUS Co. has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.73.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2989 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is 234.69%.

TELUS Company 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.