BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Stock Holdings Decreased by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. decreased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,297 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,617 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its stake in BCE by 60.1% during the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 67,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 25,228 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of BCE by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,800 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in BCE by 7.3% during the third quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 26,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 2.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 113,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,952,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCE has been the topic of a number of research reports. National Bank Financial cut shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on BCE from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $26.77 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 382.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.59. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.45 and a 12-month high of $41.77.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.737 per share. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 4,228.57%.

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.