Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $781,000 Investment in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in TELUS Co. (NYSE:TU) (TSE:T) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 57,594 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $781,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in TELUS by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 101,590 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,705,000 after purchasing an additional 30,769 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of TELUS by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,515,242 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $25,447,000 after buying an additional 264,055 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of TELUS by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 390,486 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $6,558,000 after buying an additional 52,105 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of TELUS by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 42,341 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 2,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new stake in TELUS in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,521,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.40% of the company’s stock.

TELUS Stock Performance

NYSE:TU opened at $13.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $20.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.26. TELUS Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.24 and a fifty-two week high of $17.27. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. TELUS had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 4.85%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that TELUS Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

TELUS Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2829 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. TELUS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 226.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cormark downgraded shares of TELUS from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America downgraded TELUS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of TELUS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. National Bank Financial lowered TELUS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on TELUS in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, TELUS presently has an average 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.