Raymond James & Associates Reduces Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Raymond James & Associates reduced its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,764,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 46,830 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.19% of BCE worth $61,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of BCE by 23.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,677,000 after buying an additional 1,061,488 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 116.0% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 56,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,816,000 after purchasing an additional 30,125 shares during the period. &PARTNERS bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the second quarter worth about $298,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in BCE by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,545,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,441,000 after purchasing an additional 182,198 shares during the period. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new position in BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,064,000. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. National Bank Financial lowered BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.33.

BCE Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:BCE opened at $33.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.19, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $31.13 and a one year high of $41.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.72.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.729 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.73%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

BCE Company 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.