Liberty One Investment Management LLC Acquires 4,297 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 198,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,297 shares during the period. BCE accounts for approximately 1.0% of Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $7,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in BCE by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in BCE by 0.6% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 48,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in BCE by 1.9% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company grew its holdings in BCE by 2.3% during the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 13,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.9% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 32,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BCE. Argus cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

BCE Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:BCE traded down $0.62 on Wednesday, reaching $32.55. 927,207 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,579,592. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $36.14 and its 200-day moving average is $38.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.38 and a 1-year high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. Equities research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.742 per share. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.12%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 174.56%.

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.