Probity Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,148 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Probity Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the quarter. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BCE. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 44.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,351,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,599,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,134 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,644,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $576,710,000 after acquiring an additional 311,902 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $338,000. Inscription Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of BCE by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network raised its stake in shares of BCE by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 6,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. National Bank Financial lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.33.

BCE Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:BCE opened at $33.83 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.71. The company has a market cap of $30.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. BCE Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.13 and a twelve month high of $41.77.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.729 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 204.86%.

BCE 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.