DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co cut its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 82.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,301 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 308,593 shares during the quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co's holdings in BCE were worth $1,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 864,472 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 valued at $127,282,000 after purchasing an additional 738,656 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings 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 valued at $123,877,000 after buying an additional 1,166,800 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in BCE by 130.1% during the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,200,000 after buying an additional 165,881 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 78.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,192,000 after buying an additional 52,966 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms recently commented on BCE. Bank of America lowered shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Jones downgraded BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on BCE
BCE Price Performance
Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.52 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $23.39. 2,820,082 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,391,300. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.87 and a 1-year high of $37.47. The company has a market cap of $21.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 194.89, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $23.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.80.
BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.
BCE Cuts Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.6965 dividend. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE's payout ratio is 2,350.00%.
About BCE
(
Free Report)
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.
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