Moors & Cabot Inc. Has $353,000 Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lowered its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 45.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,917 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 84.1% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new position in BCE in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its holdings in BCE by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $35.04 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.13 and a 12 month high of $41.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.83.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.729 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.32%. BCE’s payout ratio is 204.86%.

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.