BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Short Interest Down 6.1% in December

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 45,700,000 shares, a drop of 6.1% from the November 30th total of 48,690,000 shares. Approximately 5.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 13.2 days.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in BCE by 3,355.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,852,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,450,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798,427 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 5,036.0% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,354,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,042 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of BCE by 48.7% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 1,166,800 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after buying an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in BCE by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,553,000 after buying an additional 905,857 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE opened at $23.18 on Thursday. BCE has a 12-month low of $22.18 and a 12-month high of $41.77. 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 company has a market cap of $21.15 billion, a PE ratio of 331.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.40.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.737 dividend. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 4,214.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Jones downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

BCE Company 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.