Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $368,000 Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lowered its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 36.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,933 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BCE by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $500,376,000 after acquiring an additional 80,879 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of BCE by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,553,000 after acquiring an additional 905,857 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of BCE by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,061,488 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of BCE by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,068,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,932,000 after acquiring an additional 21,487 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 186,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. National Bank Financial lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.33.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $33.02 on Friday. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.13 and a 1 year high of $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $30.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.73.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.729 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.83%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 186.16%.

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.