Focus Partners Wealth Acquires Shares of 12,674 BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,674 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 217.6% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC purchased a new position in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 1,147.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,397 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of BCE by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,981 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated 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. cut BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.67.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 300,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,938,756. The business's fifty day moving average is $21.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.53. The stock has a market cap of $19.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 177.10, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.