Vision Financial Markets LLC Acquires New Shares in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $49,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in BCE by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,800 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in BCE by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,421,000 after acquiring an additional 864,472 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $17,271,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in BCE by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after acquiring an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $9,522,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock. Bank of America lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

BCE Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $23.73 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.87 billion, a PE ratio of 197.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.87 and a 1-year high of $36.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.44 and a 200 day moving average of $28.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.6965 per share. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,291.67%.

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.