Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Takes Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 7,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in BCE by 84.1% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the period. ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the first quarter worth $31,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in BCE by 3,480.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.67.

BCE Stock Performance

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

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is 204.86%.

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.