138,000 Shares in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Bought by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 138,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,676,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BCE. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in BCE during the 4th quarter worth $105,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in BCE by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 4,552 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its position in BCE by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 21,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $865,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. raised its position in BCE by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 757,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,974,000 after purchasing an additional 176,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in shares of BCE by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 11,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BCE. CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Six 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.33.

BCE Stock Up 0.6 %

BCE stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $33.36. The stock had a trading volume of 1,416,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,013,811. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.13 and a 12 month high of $43.65. The company has a market capitalization of $30.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. BCE had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 7.53%. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.738 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.85%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 201.39%.

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 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.