Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 153,791 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,085,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of TELUS by 195,100.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the fourth quarter worth $146,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of TELUS by 25.6% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS during the third quarter valued at $320,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cormark downgraded shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America cut shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley began coverage on TELUS in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

TELUS Stock Performance

NYSE:TU opened at $14.27 on Monday. TELUS Co. has a twelve month low of $13.24 and a twelve month high of $17.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, 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. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.19.

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

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.93%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 226.53%.

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.