Intact Investment Management Inc. Acquires 429,640 Shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 22.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,374,910 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 429,640 shares during the quarter. BCE makes up approximately 1.9% of Intact Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.26% of BCE worth $54,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 77.2% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,891 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the first quarter worth about $153,000. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 67.1% in the first quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 173,696 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,991,000 after purchasing an additional 69,777 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 12.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 460,217 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,567,000 after purchasing an additional 49,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 59.9% in the first quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,866 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 7,819 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank raised BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set 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 research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.67.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $21.73 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.93. BCE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.28 and a 52-week high of $36.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.56, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.64.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 1.82% and a return on equity of 19.22%. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.65%. BCE's payout ratio is 488.46%.

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.

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