Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC Purchases 2,990 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC grew its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,558 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,990 shares during the quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BCE. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 84.1% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in BCE in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in BCE during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in BCE by 3,480.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 60.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $35.19 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.13 and a 1 year high of $41.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.43 and its 200 day moving average is $33.83. 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 has a market capitalization of $32.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.729 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 204.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.67.

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.