Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 95.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,240,473 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.50% of BCE worth $106,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in BCE by 4.8% in the third 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in BCE by 130.1% during the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,200,000 after acquiring an additional 165,881 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in BCE by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 52,966 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,522,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on BCE in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating on the stock. Bank of America lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Down 0.9 %

BCE stock opened at $22.96 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.87 and a 1-year high of $36.17. The firm has a market cap of $21.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 191.29, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) 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 predict that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.6965 per share. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.