Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 800,600 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 7,400 shares during the period. TELUS accounts for approximately 4.3% of Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.’s holdings in TELUS were worth $10,844,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in TELUS by 195,100.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in TELUS by 1,756.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 58.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,001 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in shares of TELUS by 19.0% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 7,623 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $146,000. 49.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TU has been the subject of several research reports. National Bank Financial cut shares of TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Scotiabank raised TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TELUS currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

TELUS Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:TU opened at $15.39 on Friday. TELUS Co. has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $18.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $14.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.56%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s payout ratio is 242.56%.

TELUS 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.