Advisor Group Holdings Inc. Acquires 9,280 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 162,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,280 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $8,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BCE. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its position in BCE by 53.3% in the 4th quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in BCE in the 1st quarter worth about $63,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in BCE by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BCE shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on BCE from C$69.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on BCE from C$70.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. Desjardins boosted their target price on BCE from C$68.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Monday, May 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on BCE from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 13th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on BCE in a research note on Tuesday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.82.

BCE Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $49.79 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.24 and a 200 day moving average of $52.73. The company has a market cap of $45.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.25 and a 12-month high of $59.34.

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.86 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 15.75% and a net margin of 12.85%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

About BCE

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