BCE (NYSE:BCE) Stock Price Down 0.1% – Here’s Why

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE)’s share price traded down 0.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $22.49 and last traded at $22.70. 932,533 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 3,261,381 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. National Bank Financial cut BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America cut shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

BCE Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $21.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 330.79, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.14 and its 200-day moving average is $30.70.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.737 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.73%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4,028.57%.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in BCE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,522,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth $17,271,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 65,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,510,000 after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the period. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in BCE by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 24,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. raised its position in BCE by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 697,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,169,000 after purchasing an additional 39,115 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About BCE

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.