2,305 Shares in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Bought by Fairscale Capital LLC

Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $76,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in BCE by 23.8% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,183,000. &PARTNERS purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $298,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of BCE by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 862,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,983,000 after buying an additional 212,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of BCE by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,505,000 after buying an additional 2,217,262 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Stock Down 0.4 %

BCE stock opened at $35.04 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $31.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.13 and a 12 month high of $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.79.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.729 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.32%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 204.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BCE. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.67.

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.