BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by Geneos Wealth Management Inc.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. decreased its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 67.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,610 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $86,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BCE. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of BCE by 53.5% in the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $742,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661,300 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in BCE by 400.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,294,000 after buying an additional 2,857,340 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter worth about $117,492,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in BCE by 20.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after buying an additional 1,893,418 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in BCE by 83.6% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,418,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,768,000 after buying an additional 1,101,200 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BCE. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays lowered their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $32.41 on Tuesday. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.00 and a fifty-two week high of $48.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $29.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.16%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 174.56%.

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.