24,450 Shares in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Bought by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 24,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $963,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in BCE during the third quarter worth $30,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in BCE by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in BCE by 120,000.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in BCE by 147.7% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC boosted its position in BCE by 35.7% during the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $33.07 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.74. 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 52-week low of $31.82 and a 52-week high of $48.38. The company has a market capitalization of $30.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.56.

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

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.742 dividend. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.98%. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 174.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Argus downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

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.