Focus Partners Wealth Makes New $294,000 Investment in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 12,674 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 623.9% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 9,398,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $217,573,000 after buying an additional 8,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in BCE during the fourth quarter worth $87,643,000. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake 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 worth $462,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,624,953 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,322,474 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 95.5% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $106,216,000 after purchasing an additional 2,240,473 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

BCE Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of BCE traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.61. The company had a trading volume of 942,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,942,695. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $36.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 180.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $21.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.55.

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

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.