Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Has $64.45 Million Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 3,355.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,852,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,798,427 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $64,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. now owns 10,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of BCE by 52.6% during the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 47,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 16,534 shares in the last quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC increased its stake in BCE by 5.7% in the first quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 54,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,827,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares during the period. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co raised its position in BCE by 12.1% in the first quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 371,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,611,000 after purchasing an additional 40,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in BCE by 20.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 3,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. National Bank Financial cut shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.33.

BCE Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.79. 1,531,325 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,201,275. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.71. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year high of $41.77.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 204.86%.

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.