Jennison Associates LLC Lowers Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 328,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,172 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $11,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in BCE by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 31,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in BCE by 84.1% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of BCE by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,016,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its position in shares of BCE by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 21,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $865,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. 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. Barclays reduced 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, CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.25.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.52. 1,255,346 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,338,870. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.66. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $31.13 and a one year high of $45.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $28.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.57.

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

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.738 dividend. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 201.39%.

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.