BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Stake Boosted by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 95.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in BCE were worth $989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BCE. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in BCE by 108,040.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 5,402 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at $8,233,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in BCE by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $368,073,000 after acquiring an additional 411,911 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BCE by 114.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,165 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,384,000 after acquiring an additional 825,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at $1,075,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.67.

BCE Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of BCE traded up $0.22 on Wednesday, hitting $24.60. 2,943,575 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,138,301. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.61. The stock's 50 day moving average is $22.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.77. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 1.82%. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.65%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 488.46%.

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.