Aigen Investment Management LP Takes $1.24 Million Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 53,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,239,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 48.7% during the third 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 buying an additional 1,166,800 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,421,000 after buying an additional 864,472 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,271,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,522,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $23.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 197.72, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $21.87 and a one year high of $36.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.6965 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.74%. BCE’s payout ratio is 2,291.67%.

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.