BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Purchased by Creative Planning

Creative Planning raised its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 116.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 56,099 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 30,125 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning's holdings in BCE were worth $1,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Scientech Research LLC purchased a new stake in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $520,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in BCE by 207.2% in the 2nd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 18,498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 12,476 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in BCE by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,545,042 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $82,441,000 after buying an additional 182,198 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,068,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $163,932,000 after purchasing an additional 21,487 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 1,420,769 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,927,000 after purchasing an additional 178,031 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. National Bank Financial cut BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.67.

BCE Trading Down 0.5 %

BCE opened at $33.53 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $34.80 and its 200-day moving average is $33.75. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.13 and a 52-week high of $41.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. BCE's payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

BCE 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.