Lipe & Dalton Lowers Stock Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Lipe & Dalton decreased its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in BCE were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BCE. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 53.5% during the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $742,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,661,300 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in BCE by 400.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,857,340 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $117,492,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $423,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in BCE by 83.6% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,418,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,768,000 after buying an additional 1,101,200 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $32.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,090,292 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,625,837. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.54 and its 200 day moving average is $37.96. BCE Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.82 and a twelve month high of $48.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.39 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.21%. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 174.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Argus cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

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.