Advisors Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 10.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in BCE by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,553,000 after purchasing an additional 905,857 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of BCE by 0.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,068,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,932,000 after buying an additional 21,487 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 5.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,564,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,379,000 after acquiring an additional 186,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in BCE by 48.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BCE. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Edward Jones lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $26.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.05. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.45 and a 52-week high of $41.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 380.43, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.59.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.737 per share. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.07%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 4,228.57%.

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.