Bfsg LLC Sells 5,679 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Bfsg LLC lowered its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new position in BCE in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in BCE by 120,000.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in BCE by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 147.7% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 35.7% during the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE BCE traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.06. 2,191,971 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,593,189. BCE Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.82 and a twelve month high of $48.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.77.

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 return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.98%. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 174.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BCE. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Securities downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

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.