BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Acquired by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC grew its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BCE. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in BCE by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,928,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,615,000 after acquiring an additional 109,866 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in BCE by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,318,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,908,000 after acquiring an additional 843,626 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in BCE by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 29,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,161,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp raised its stake in BCE by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 86,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,307,000 after acquiring an additional 30,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in BCE during the 3rd quarter worth $603,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BCE shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

BCE Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $32.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $30.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.82 and a fifty-two week high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.742 dividend. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.03%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 174.56%.

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.