Lincluden Management Ltd. Has $47.94 Million Stock Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Lincluden Management Ltd. lifted its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,378,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 88,866 shares during the period. BCE accounts for about 5.2% of Lincluden Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Lincluden Management Ltd.’s holdings in BCE were worth $47,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 3,480.0% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BCE by 121.2% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 60.0% in the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its position in BCE by 321.0% during the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BCE. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of 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 upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.33.

BCE Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $32.27 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.13 and a 12-month high of $41.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.