Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 355,183 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,233,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $87,643,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of BCE by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $462,262,000 after buying an additional 3,624,953 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in BCE by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $609,465,000 after buying an additional 2,322,474 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in BCE by 95.5% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $106,216,000 after buying an additional 2,240,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BCE by 114.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,165 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,384,000 after acquiring an additional 825,098 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $22.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 185.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.56. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.28 and a 52-week high of $36.17. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $22.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.34.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.6965 dividend. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. BCE's payout ratio is currently 2,291.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. National Bank Financial raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America lowered BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.

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.

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