Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 31,684 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Private Advisor Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 55.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,684 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BCE. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in shares of BCE by 52.6% during the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 47,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,540,000 after buying an additional 16,534 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of BCE by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 3,450 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of BCE by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 489,894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,647,000 after buying an additional 13,500 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BCE by 213.5% during the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,373,000 after buying an additional 47,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE during the 1st quarter worth $2,490,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.33.

BCE Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $32.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.25 and a 200-day moving average of $33.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year high of $41.77.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

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.