TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) Shares Sold by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA trimmed its holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 208,620 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 1,229 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in TELUS were worth $2,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in TELUS by 24.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,160,789 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $438,922,000 after purchasing an additional 5,094,269 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in TELUS by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,801,407 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $349,841,000 after buying an additional 903,921 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of TELUS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,212,000. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,403,521 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $46,088,000 after acquiring an additional 169,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of TELUS by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,666,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $44,785,000 after acquiring an additional 317,000 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TELUS Trading Down 0.4 %

TELUS stock opened at $14.49 on Friday. TELUS Co. has a 52-week low of $13.24 and a 52-week high of $17.27. 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 has a market capitalization of $21.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.12.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.2829 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.81%. TELUS’s payout ratio is 226.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lowered shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. National Bank Financial lowered TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Cormark cut TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.