BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Bought by Fiera Capital Corp

Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 210,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,954 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in BCE were worth $6,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,183,000. &PARTNERS acquired a new position in shares of BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at $298,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in BCE by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 862,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,983,000 after purchasing an additional 212,047 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in BCE by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in BCE by 23.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE BCE opened at $35.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.13 and a 12 month high of $41.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.96. The company has a market capitalization of $32.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.729 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.25%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 201.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.33.

BCE 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.