Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Grows Position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. lifted its position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,202,254 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 567,705 shares during the quarter. BCE comprises approximately 2.5% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.56% of BCE worth $119,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $609,465,000 after buying an additional 2,322,474 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $462,262,000 after buying an additional 3,624,953 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 18,551,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $429,796,000 after buying an additional 1,814,111 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $368,073,000 after buying an additional 411,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,569,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $244,692,000 after buying an additional 2,706,839 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of BCE stock traded up $0.25 on Friday, hitting $23.58. The stock had a trading volume of 3,105,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,283,076. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.78 and a 200 day moving average of $22.78. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $36.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.69, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 1.82%. The company had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 565.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 488.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank raised shares of BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Cibc World Mkts cut shares of BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. 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 shares of 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, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.67.

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.