Clearbridge Investments LLC Raises Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,768,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 185,943 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $89,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BCE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of BCE by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $500,376,000 after acquiring an additional 80,879 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of BCE by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in BCE by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,553,000 after purchasing an additional 905,857 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in BCE by 23.8% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in BCE by 0.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,068,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,932,000 after purchasing an additional 21,487 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.67.

BCE Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $34.45 on Thursday. 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.729 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.47%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.