BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Purchased by Great Lakes Retirement Inc.

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $865,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BCE. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 555,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,786,000 after purchasing an additional 50,975 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 170,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,479,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 117,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,528,000 after purchasing an additional 27,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 36,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,001,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. TD Securities lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Argus lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of BCE from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE traded down $0.24 on Thursday, hitting $34.02. The stock had a trading volume of 2,950,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,553,974. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $33.54 and a one year high of $48.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $31.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.64.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. On average, analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.742 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 175.15%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers integrated digital wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.