Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Makes New $541,000 Investment in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 23,368 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $609,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,322,474 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in BCE by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $462,262,000 after buying an additional 3,624,953 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in BCE by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 18,551,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $429,796,000 after buying an additional 1,814,111 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in BCE by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $368,073,000 after buying an additional 411,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in BCE by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,569,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $244,692,000 after buying an additional 2,706,839 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCE traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $21.79. 3,173,192 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,956,923. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.28 and a 12-month high of $36.17. 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 fifty day moving average price of $21.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.43. The company has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a PE ratio of 181.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.92 billion. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. National Bankshares reiterated a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.67.

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.