Nicola Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 387,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,989,000.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in BCE during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 66.4% during the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,360,980 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,320,000 after buying an additional 543,320 shares during the last quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BCE during the third quarter worth $436,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in BCE by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 105,149 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,664,000 after buying an additional 3,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in BCE by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 262,088 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,124,000 after buying an additional 51,661 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
BCE Stock Performance
Shares of BCE stock traded up $0.29 on Friday, hitting $24.78. 3,419,909 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,239,732. The firm's 50 day moving average is $23.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.35. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $21.87 and a one year high of $36.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 206.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.
BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
BCE Cuts Dividend
The firm 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 dividend of $0.6965 per share. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio is 2,291.67%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms have recently issued reports on BCE. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of BCE in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an "underweight" rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $40.00.
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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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