Truist Financial Corp Reduces Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 547,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 128,740 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.06% of BCE worth $21,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in BCE in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 120,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 26.5% during the 4th 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 increased its holdings in BCE by 147.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC raised its stake in BCE by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BCE shares. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.4 %

BCE opened at $32.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. BCE Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.82 and a 52 week high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. Analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.742 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.06%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 174.56%.

About BCE

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.