BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Purchased by Man Group plc

Man Group plc increased its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 144.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 873,544 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 516,388 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned 0.10% of BCE worth $20,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in BCE by 623.9% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 9,398,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $217,573,000 after acquiring an additional 8,100,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,643,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in BCE by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $462,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,624,953 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $609,465,000 after buying an additional 2,322,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of BCE by 95.5% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $106,216,000 after buying an additional 2,240,473 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BCE. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, National Bank Financial raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.67.

BCE Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:BCE traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $21.68. The company had a trading volume of 3,470,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,941,089. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.13 and a 200 day moving average of $23.80. The company has a market cap of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 180.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.92 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. The company's revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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.