Verity & Verity LLC Trims Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Verity & Verity LLC reduced its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 425,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,738 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $14,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 3,355.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,852,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798,427 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 5,036.0% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,354,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,842,000 after buying an additional 1,328,042 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of BCE by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after buying an additional 1,061,488 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in BCE by 12.0% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,553,000 after acquiring an additional 905,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its position in BCE by 66.4% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,360,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,320,000 after acquiring an additional 543,320 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. National Bank Financial lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BCE from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

BCE Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $27.24 on Tuesday. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.51 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 389.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.59. 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.737 dividend. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.82%. BCE’s payout ratio is 4,214.29%.

BCE 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.