Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in BCE, Inc. by 59.5% in the first quarter, now owning 85,515 shares valued at approximately $1.96 million.
• BCE recently reported earnings of $0.46 per share, missing expectations, and had a revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to anticipated figures of $0.52 EPS and $5.91 billion in revenue.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on BCE, with a current average rating of "Hold" and a price target of $38.67, after several upgrades and downgrades in recent reports.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 59.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 85,515 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 31,884 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in BCE were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position 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 valued at $429,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814,111 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,101,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $369,574,000 after purchasing an additional 222,432 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 34.4% in the fourth 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 period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 623.9% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 13.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,844,502 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $157,133,000 after buying an additional 815,614 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BCE. Desjardins upgraded BCE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday. Scotiabank upgraded BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.67.

BCE Trading Up 0.6%

BCE traded up $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $24.51. 2,816,526 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,297,236. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.81. The firm has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.62. BCE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $36.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.91 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 1.96%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a yield of 565.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 437.93%.

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.