C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Acquires Shares of 4,490 BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $104,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in 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 valued at $656,421,000 after purchasing an additional 864,472 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after acquiring an additional 738,656 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 48.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,800 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 130.1% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,200,000 after acquiring an additional 165,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 78.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 52,966 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BCE. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Jones downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on BCE in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. Bank of America cut BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

BCE Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE BCE opened at $23.86 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.87 and a 12 month high of $38.14. The stock has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 198.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $23.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS 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, equities analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.6965 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.68%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,350.00%.

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.