Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Takes Position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 135,892 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,843,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in TELUS by 195,100.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of TELUS by 1,756.0% during the 4th 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 period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth approximately $142,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new position in TELUS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $146,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of TELUS by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on TU. StockNews.com raised TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lowered shares of TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Cormark cut shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on TELUS in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, National Bank Financial cut TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

TELUS Price Performance

NYSE TU opened at $14.49 on Friday. TELUS Co. has a 12-month low of $13.24 and a 12-month high of $17.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.89 and its 200-day moving average is $15.12. The company has a market capitalization of $21.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

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

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.