MQS Management LLC Has $838,000 Holdings in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

MQS Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 437.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,369 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,076 shares during the period. TELUS accounts for approximately 0.5% of MQS Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in TELUS were worth $838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in TELUS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,100,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in TELUS by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,252,092 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $20,050,000 after purchasing an additional 126,488 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TELUS by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,834,015 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $406,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,988 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in shares of TELUS during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,991,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS during the fourth quarter worth approximately $376,000. Institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:TU opened at $16.78 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $24.77 billion, a PE ratio of 43.03, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.74. TELUS Co. has a 52 week low of $14.63 and a 52 week high of $19.14.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.09. TELUS had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. Analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.284 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.77%. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 294.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TU. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com upgraded TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.33.

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.