Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC Sells 10,918 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC reduced its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 48.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,918 shares during the quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of BCE during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $47,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $67,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.9 %

BCE stock opened at $32.41 on Tuesday. BCE Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.00 and a twelve month high of $48.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.54 and its 200-day moving average is $37.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 174.56%.

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.