Wealth Alliance Cuts Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Wealth Alliance trimmed its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 784 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in BCE were worth $963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 47,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in BCE by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 62,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 482,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 65,899 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 166.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 5,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,564,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,379,000 after buying an additional 186,659 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $35.62 on Thursday. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $31.13 and a one year high of $41.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.37 and its 200 day moving average is $33.82. The stock has a market cap of $32.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.65.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.729 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.19%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Cibc World Mkts raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.33.

BCE 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.