Gotham Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 103.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,648 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $2,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 623.9% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 9,398,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $217,573,000 after purchasing an additional 8,100,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at $87,643,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $462,262,000 after purchasing an additional 3,624,953 shares during the period. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $609,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322,474 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 95.5% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $106,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240,473 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BCE Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $21.60 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $36.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 180.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $22.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.06.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

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.