Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 355,183 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,233,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in BCE by 4.8% during 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $127,282,000 after purchasing an additional 738,656 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in BCE by 130.1% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,200,000 after purchasing an additional 165,881 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in BCE by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 52,966 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,522,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America lowered BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.00.

BCE Trading Up 0.5 %

BCE traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $22.64. 2,265,131 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,708,855. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 188.63, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $23.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.22. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $21.87 and a one year high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. As a group, analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 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, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.6965 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.31%. 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.