Truist Financial Corp Decreases Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Truist Financial Corp decreased its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 438,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 45,578 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in BCE were worth $14,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new position in BCE in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in shares of BCE by 3,480.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $33.71 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year high of $41.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.76. The firm has a market cap of $30.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

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

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.729 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.65%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 204.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Seven equities 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. According to MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.67.

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.