Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Boosts Stock Position in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. lifted its position in shares of TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) by 35.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,060,819 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 279,000 shares during the period. TELUS accounts for approximately 1.6% of Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. owned 0.07% of TELUS worth $17,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in TELUS by 11.2% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,252,092 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $20,050,000 after buying an additional 126,488 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in TELUS by 5.4% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,472,610 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $188,835,000 after buying an additional 636,845 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its holdings in TELUS by 130.4% in the first quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 56,840 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 32,170 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS in the second quarter worth about $680,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in TELUS in the first quarter worth about $938,000. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TELUS Stock Performance

NYSE:TU traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $15.45. The company had a trading volume of 566,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,282,194. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. TELUS Co. has a 52 week low of $14.63 and a 52 week high of $19.14. The firm has a market cap of $23.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.11.

TELUS (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. TELUS had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that TELUS Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.297 per share. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from TELUS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 244.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of TELUS from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of TELUS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

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.