Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $896,000 Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 28.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,244 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the third quarter worth $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in BCE by 120,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the first quarter valued at about $88,000. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $32.59 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $29.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.83. 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.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.742 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.11%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 173.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. Argus downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.