BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by Forte Capital LLC ADV

Forte Capital LLC ADV decreased its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,535 shares during the quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BCE. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 400.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,294,000 after buying an additional 2,857,340 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 20.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $423,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,418 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 83.6% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,418,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,768,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,200 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in BCE by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,318,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,908,000 after buying an additional 843,626 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in BCE by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,968,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,318,000 after buying an additional 835,871 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

BCE Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of BCE traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $33.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,259,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,339,421. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.12 and its 200 day moving average is $37.49. The stock has a market cap of $30.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.56. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.82 and a 12-month high of $48.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 7.53%. Equities analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.738 per share. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

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.