Intact Investment Management Inc. Acquires 213,500 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 34.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 835,660 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 213,500 shares during the period. BCE makes up 1.3% of Intact Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of BCE worth $32,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of BCE by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,198,064 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $580,173,000 after buying an additional 661,255 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,332,833 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $547,084,000 after buying an additional 294,626 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of BCE by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $423,202,000 after buying an additional 1,893,418 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 8,798,315 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $335,610,000 after buying an additional 554,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,967,389 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $189,615,000 after buying an additional 362,398 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

BCE Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.27 on Friday, reaching $32.62. 1,477,945 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,492,673. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.82 and a 12-month high of $48.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $29.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.56. The business's 50 day moving average price is $34.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.67.

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

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.742 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.10%. This is an increase from BCE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE's payout ratio is 174.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. TD Securities cut BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays decreased their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC upgraded BCE from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Argus cut BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $49.00.

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.