BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Bought by Parallel Advisors LLC

Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 166.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,715 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in BCE by 23.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in BCE during the 4th quarter worth $1,183,000. &PARTNERS acquired a new stake in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at $298,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in BCE by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 862,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,983,000 after purchasing an additional 212,047 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of BCE opened at $35.62 on Thursday. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $31.13 and a one year high of $41.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $32.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion during 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 business posted $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 8.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on BCE. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

About BCE

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.