BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE – Free Report) (TSE:BCE) by 20.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,698 shares of the utility provider after acquiring an additional 3,450 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in BCE were worth $703,000, according to its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its shares in BCE by 171.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,284,802 shares of the utility provider’s stock worth $168,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708,625 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in BCE in the fourth quarter worth $97,874,000. FIL Ltd grew its shares in BCE by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utility provider’s stock worth $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter worth $85,840,000. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in BCE by 4,046.0% during the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,075,757 shares of the utility provider’s stock worth $42,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,810 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the shares are currently held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts set new price targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BCE. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, CIBC raised 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 on the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.25.

Check out our latest analysis on BCE

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE opened Friday at $33.21. BCE Inc. has a one-year low of $31.13 and a one-year high of $44.97. The stock has a market cap of $30.30 billion, a price/earnings ratio of 23.06, a price/earnings/growth ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.27.

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Free Report) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utility provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, matching the consensus estimate of $0.53. BCE had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 7.53%. The company had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.47 billion. Equities research analysts expect BCE Inc. to post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE cuts dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.738. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents an annualized dividend of $2.95 and a yield of 8.89%. BCE’s payout ratio is 201.39%.

BCE Company Profile

(Free Report)

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 subscriptions and devices; wireline products and services consisting of data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services and business solutions, as well as voice and other communications services and products; and satellite television and connectivity services to residential, small and medium-sized business, government and large enterprise customers.

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