Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 12,965 Shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 42.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,253 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 12,965 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in TELUS were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TU. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 215.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,214,210 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $395,314,000 after buying an additional 15,179,110 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 40,669,392 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $727,275,000 after buying an additional 6,334,692 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth $109,327,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth $82,775,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of TELUS by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 28,705,377 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $511,646,000 after buying an additional 3,860,487 shares in the last quarter. 49.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TELUS Stock Performance

Shares of TU opened at $15.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.82. TELUS Co. has a 12 month low of $14.63 and a 12 month high of $19.66.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 7.90%. As a group, analysts predict that TELUS Co. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.49%. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio is 289.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price target (down from $28.00) on shares of TELUS in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of TELUS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.72.

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.