Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 456 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 456 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 84.1% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of BCE by 239.9% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BCE by 35.7% in the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on BCE shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.25.

BCE Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $31.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.82. The company has a market cap of $28.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.13 and a 12-month high of $45.65.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. Research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.738 per share. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 201.39%.

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.