First Bank & Trust Grows Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

First Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 21.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,028 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 3,355.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,852,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,450,000 after buying an additional 1,798,427 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in BCE by 5,036.0% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,354,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,042 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in BCE by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in BCE by 12.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in BCE by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,582,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,919,000 after purchasing an additional 402,869 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. National Bank Financial lowered BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Cibc World Mkts raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, September 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.33.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,531,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,201,275. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.13 and a 12-month high of $41.77. The company has a market cap of $29.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

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

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.729 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

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.