Fiduciary Alliance LLC Takes Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BCE. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in BCE by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,351,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033,134 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,644,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $576,710,000 after acquiring an additional 311,902 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in BCE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $338,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp increased its holdings in BCE by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 100,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,404,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. National Bank Financial lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.33.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $32.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $31.13 and a one year high of $41.77. The stock has a market cap of $29.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.72.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.729 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.96%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 204.86%.

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.