Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Invests $963,000 in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 24,450 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $963,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the third quarter worth $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in BCE by 120,000.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in BCE by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in BCE by 147.7% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its position in BCE by 35.7% during the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities cut BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Argus cut BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $49.00.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $32.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,759,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,582,766. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $34.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.70. The company has a market cap of $30.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.56. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.82 and a 1 year high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.742 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.03%. BCE's dividend payout ratio is 174.56%.

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.