NewEdge Advisors LLC Has $60,000 Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

NewEdge Advisors LLC decreased its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 90.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,304 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $60,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. FIL Ltd increased its position in BCE by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $609,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322,474 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of BCE by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,262,000 after buying an additional 3,624,953 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in BCE by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $368,073,000 after buying an additional 411,911 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,028,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,734,000 after buying an additional 168,704 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in BCE by 95.5% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $106,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240,473 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $21.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.63, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $36.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.71.

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

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.6965 per share. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,291.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BCE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

About BCE

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.