Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Has $248,000 Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 525 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in BCE by 4.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,198,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $580,173,000 after purchasing an additional 661,255 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,332,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,084,000 after buying an additional 294,626 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in BCE by 53.5% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $742,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661,300 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of BCE by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,895,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $522,794,000 after purchasing an additional 90,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $32.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $35.54 and its 200-day moving average is $37.96. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.00 and a 1 year high of $48.38.

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

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.742 dividend. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 174.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.