NBC Securities Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 108,040.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the quarter. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 1,147.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,285 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $92,000. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 78.6% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 36,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 16,279 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in BCE by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 562,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,037,000 after buying an additional 48,997 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. National Bank Financial raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded BCE from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.67.

BCE Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of BCE stock opened at $22.10 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The firm has a market cap of $20.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 184.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.17. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.92 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. The company’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.