Capital Advisors Inc. OK Decreases Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Capital Advisors Inc. OK cut its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 33.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 513,436 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 255,996 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK owned about 0.06% of BCE worth $17,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in BCE by 3,480.0% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 121.2% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 60.0% during the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 321.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.33.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCE traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $32.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,913,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,187,810. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.13 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $34.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.59.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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.