Qube Research & Technologies Ltd Has $3.55 Million Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) by 186.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 44,345 shares during the quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd’s holdings in BCE were worth $3,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,092,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $605,026,000 after buying an additional 58,608 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 11,584,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,917,000 after buying an additional 95,776 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its stake in BCE by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 7,241,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $362,504,000 after acquiring an additional 20,774 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in BCE in the 3rd quarter valued at $333,780,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in BCE by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,612,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,969,000 after acquiring an additional 131,341 shares during the period. 43.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE stock opened at $58.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $53.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.22. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.86 and a fifty-two week high of $58.48.

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. BCE had a return on equity of 15.67% and a net margin of 11.83%. The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. BCE’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 15th will be given a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 14th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.32%. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 120.08%.

BCE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BCE in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on BCE from C$69.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Friday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on BCE from C$65.00 to C$66.00 in a research note on Friday, February 4th. Desjardins increased their price target on BCE from C$66.50 to C$68.00 in a research note on Monday, February 7th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on BCE from $54.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.64.

BCE Profile (Get Rating)

BCE Inc operates as a telecommunications and media company in Canada. The company offers wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers. It operates through three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment provides wireless voice and data communication products and services, and consumer electronics products.

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