TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Shares Acquired by First Affirmative Financial Network

First Affirmative Financial Network increased its stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 33,144 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,742 shares during the quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in TELUS were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in TELUS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in TELUS by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its holdings in TELUS by 39.8% in the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 2,752 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in TELUS in the 1st quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in TELUS in the 1st quarter valued at about $71,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TU has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

TELUS Price Performance

TU stock opened at $16.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. TELUS Co. has a one year low of $14.63 and a one year high of $19.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 40.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.13.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.09. TELUS had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th were issued a $0.284 dividend. This is an increase from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.02%. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 287.50%.

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.