Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $894,000 Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 6.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $894,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 80,879 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in BCE by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in BCE by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 11,151,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,217,000 after purchasing an additional 435,681 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,085,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,678,000 after purchasing an additional 287,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of BCE by 23.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $35.10 on Tuesday. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.13 and a 1 year high of $41.77. The stock has a market cap of $32.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.78.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.729 dividend. 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 8.31%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 204.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BCE. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.67.

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.