Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Boosts Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 19.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in BCE were worth $246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new stake in BCE during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in BCE by 3,480.0% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 60.0% in the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays cut their price target on BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.33.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $33.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $30.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.75. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.13 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.65.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 204.86%.

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.