Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. decreased its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,325 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,421,000 after buying an additional 864,472 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 25.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. Lincluden Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 1,615,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,457,000 after buying an additional 237,903 shares during the period. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 14.1% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,216,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,330,000 after buying an additional 150,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Up 0.5 %

BCE stock opened at $23.73 on Thursday. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.87 and a fifty-two week high of $36.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $23.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.38. 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 company has a market capitalization of $21.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 197.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. As a group, analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.6965 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.74%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 2,291.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

BCE 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.