Bfsg LLC Cuts Stock Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Bfsg LLC cut its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,679 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of BCE during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of BCE by 120,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of BCE by 147.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its stake in BCE by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BCE shares. Argus lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays decreased their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $33.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,191,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,593,189. The business’s fifty day moving average is $34.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.82 and a 1 year high of $48.38. The stock has a market cap of $30.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. Analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.742 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.98%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 174.56%.

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.