Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Purchases 636 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 636 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 400.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,857,340 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in BCE by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after buying an additional 1,893,418 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in BCE by 83.6% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,418,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,768,000 after buying an additional 1,101,200 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in BCE by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,318,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $88,908,000 after acquiring an additional 843,626 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,968,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,318,000 after acquiring an additional 835,871 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $32.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $30.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.93 and its 200 day moving average is $37.80. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $31.82 and a one year high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.742 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.02%. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 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.