Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Acquires 161,658 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 3,179.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 161,658 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $6,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BCE. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in BCE by 4.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,198,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $580,173,000 after purchasing an additional 661,255 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,332,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,084,000 after acquiring an additional 294,626 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in BCE by 20.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,418 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 8,798,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $335,610,000 after purchasing an additional 554,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in BCE by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,967,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,615,000 after buying an additional 362,398 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BCE. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock traded up $0.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.60. 2,259,640 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,339,421. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.82 and a 52-week high of $48.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.53.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 7.53%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.738 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.79%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 204.86%.

About BCE

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 two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.