BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Purchased by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 59.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,819 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 154.8% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 52,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,607 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 108,040.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter worth $8,233,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $368,073,000 after purchasing an additional 411,911 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 114.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,384,000 after purchasing an additional 825,098 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. National Bank Financial raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank raised BCE from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.67.

BCE Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $22.81 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $36.17. The firm has a market cap of $21.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 190.08, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.61. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.08.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is 488.46%.

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.