Signaturefd LLC Buys 16,794 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 85.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,794 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 4.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,421,000 after buying an additional 864,472 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 25.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 48.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,877,000 after buying an additional 1,166,800 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of BCE by 130.1% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,200,000 after purchasing an additional 165,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of BCE by 78.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 52,966 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BCE. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. National Bankshares reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $23.41 on Thursday. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.87 and a 52-week high of $36.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $21.58 billion, a PE ratio of 195.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. On average, research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.6965 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.90%. BCE’s payout ratio 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.