Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Raises Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 95.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,240,473 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.50% of BCE worth $106,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in BCE by 4.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $656,421,000 after buying an additional 864,472 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BCE by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $368,073,000 after purchasing an additional 411,911 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BCE by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,028,888 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $139,734,000 after purchasing an additional 168,704 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $87,643,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an "underweight" rating for the company. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America cut shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.

BCE Price Performance

BCE traded up $0.08 on Friday, reaching $22.74. 5,186,187 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,715,269. BCE Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.62 and a twelve month high of $36.17. The stock has a market cap of $20.96 billion, a PE ratio of 189.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $23.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.63.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.6965 dividend. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.