BCE, Inc. $BCE Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,020,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 700,797 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $429,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 735.3% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BCE during the third quarter worth $31,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 81.0% during the third quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 64.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 34.6% during the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 3,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE BCE opened at $24.27 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.94 and a 200 day moving average of $24.29. BCE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.04 and a 1 year high of $26.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The company had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, January 12th. TD Securities downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Barrington Research upgraded shares of BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.67.

BCE Profile

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.