BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Bought by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 95.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,240,473 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in BCE were worth $106,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BCE. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of BCE by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,421,000 after purchasing an additional 864,472 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in BCE by 130.1% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,200,000 after buying an additional 165,881 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 78.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 52,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter valued at $9,522,000. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE opened at $22.96 on Monday. BCE Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.87 and a 52 week high of $36.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $21.16 billion, a PE ratio of 191.29, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.95.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. Research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.6965 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.14%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 2,291.67%.

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.