The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 4,258,557 Shares of TELUS Corporation $TU

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of TELUS Corporation (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 21.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,075,122 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,258,557 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 1.55% of TELUS worth $309,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TU. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS by 320.0% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 2,247 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,712 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new position in TELUS in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA raised its position in TELUS by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 2,473 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of TELUS during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of TELUS during the 2nd quarter worth $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Up 1.8%

TU opened at $10.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $11.34 and its 200 day moving average is $12.53. TELUS Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $9.95 and a fifty-two week high of $16.72.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.01. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.29% and a net margin of 4.54%.The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that TELUS Corporation will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.4184 per share. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 16.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 275.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on TU. Raymond James Financial began coverage on TELUS in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Barclays set a $12.00 price target on TELUS and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Securities upgraded TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley downgraded TELUS to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of TELUS in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.67.

TELUS Company Profile

TELUS Corporation (NYSE: TU) is a Canadian telecommunications and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It delivers a broad portfolio of consumer and business communications services across Canada, including mobile wireless, fixed-line voice, broadband internet, and television. TELUS also provides a range of enterprise services such as cloud and IT solutions, managed network services, cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings for business customers.

Beyond core connectivity, TELUS has expanded into health and digital services.