BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Stock Position Decreased by Pacifica Partners Inc.

Pacifica Partners Inc. cut its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,275 shares during the quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 2.8% in the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 405,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,110,000 after purchasing an additional 11,006 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE in the second quarter valued at $1,909,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 7.2% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,768,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,622,000 after purchasing an additional 185,943 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 11.8% in the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 9,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 5.0% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 210,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,818,000 after purchasing an additional 9,954 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BCE. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.67.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $33.53 on Tuesday. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.13 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.75. 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 firm has a market cap of $30.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 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 (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 the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.70%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.