Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,265,259 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 103,945 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.25% of BCE worth $52,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,405,560 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,761,000 after purchasing an additional 423,912 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA raised its position in BCE by 75.2% in the fourth quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 155,933 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,610,000 after acquiring an additional 66,935 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 235.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 6,882 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its position in shares of BCE by 317.1% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 49,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 37,327 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in BCE by 114.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,165 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,384,000 after purchasing an additional 825,098 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research note 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.00.
View Our Latest Stock Report on BCE
BCE Stock Down 2.0 %
BCE traded down $0.43 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.23. The stock had a trading volume of 3,390,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,794,613. BCE Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $36.17. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.80. 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 company has a market capitalization of $19.57 billion, a PE ratio of 176.88, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.56.
BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. On average, research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.6965 per share. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio is presently 2,291.67%.
BCE Company Profile
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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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