893 Shares in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Bought by Livelsberger Financial Advisory

Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of BCE by 6.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,928,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,615,000 after buying an additional 109,866 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of BCE by 32.6% in 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. FIL Ltd raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in BCE by 57.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,318,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $88,908,000 after purchasing an additional 843,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in BCE by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Down 0.7 %

BCE opened at $32.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.82 and a 12 month high of $46.02.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.53. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 7.53%. On average, equities analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.738 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.04%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 202.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.25.

BCE 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.