4,525 Shares in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Purchased by Asset Planning Inc

Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $105,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in BCE by 4.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,421,000 after buying an additional 864,472 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 25.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after purchasing an additional 738,656 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 48.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 130.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 165,881 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 78.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 52,966 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of BCE in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Edward Jones cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $23.61 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 196.77, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.87 and a 12 month high of $38.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.6965 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.80%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 2,350.00%.

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.