Hexagon Capital Partners LLC Has $28,000 Stock Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 239.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $28,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of BCE by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 216,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,245,000 after buying an additional 16,067 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in BCE by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 48,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in BCE by 102.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 30,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,169,000 after purchasing an additional 15,480 shares during the period. Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 392,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,996,000 after purchasing an additional 15,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BCE by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Securities downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays decreased 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. Finally, CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Trading Up 1.8 %

BCE opened at $33.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.82 and a fifty-two week high of $48.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.20 and its 200 day moving average is $37.53.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.738 dividend. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 174.56%.

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.