BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Short Interest Update

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 33,040,000 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the June 15th total of 35,490,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 16.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.25.

BCE Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of BCE stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $33.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 231,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,751. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.51 and a beta of 0.57. BCE has a one year low of $31.13 and a one year high of $44.97.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. Equities research analysts expect that BCE will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.738 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.79%. BCE’s payout ratio is 201.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BCE. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of BCE by 84.1% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 239.9% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in BCE by 3,480.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

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.