BCE (NYSE:BCE) Trading 0.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE)’s stock price rose 0.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $22.98 and last traded at $23.04. Approximately 323,540 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 3,623,172 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BCE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

BCE Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.13 billion, a PE ratio of 192.96, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. As a group, analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.6965 dividend. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,350.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,643,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in BCE by 95.5% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,586,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $106,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240,473 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of BCE by 3,355.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,852,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,450,000 after buying an additional 1,798,427 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake 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 worth $123,877,000 after buying an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of BCE by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,421,000 after buying an additional 864,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

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.