Lincluden Management Ltd. Has $47.94 Million Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Lincluden Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,378,053 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 88,866 shares during the period. BCE makes up about 5.2% of Lincluden Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Lincluden Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.15% of BCE worth $47,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $500,376,000 after purchasing an additional 80,879 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in BCE by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $273,553,000 after purchasing an additional 905,857 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in BCE by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,564,393 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $115,379,000 after purchasing an additional 186,659 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on BCE. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.33.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.11. 1,913,536 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,187,810. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.58. BCE Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.13 and a 52 week high of $41.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.