Vest Financial LLC Has $497,000 Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,067 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in BCE by 84.1% in the fourth 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. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in shares of BCE by 3,480.0% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 60.0% in the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

BCE Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:BCE opened at $35.39 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.13 and a 12-month high of $41.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.90.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business posted $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.24%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 204.86%.

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.