Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Increases Stock Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. boosted its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 954,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,648 shares during the period. BCE makes up 2.3% of Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. owned approximately 0.10% of BCE worth $22,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BCE. Claret Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 252,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,849,000 after acquiring an additional 104,227 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in BCE by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 249,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,787,000 after purchasing an additional 11,746 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in BCE by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,388,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,079 shares during the period. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BCE during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of BCE by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 478,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,076,000 after buying an additional 27,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America downgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Up 1.8 %

BCE opened at $22.02 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.56. BCE Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $36.17. 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 stock has a market cap of $20.29 billion, a PE ratio of 183.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.6965 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.65%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,291.67%.

BCE Company 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.