BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by Cumberland Partners Ltd

Cumberland Partners Ltd trimmed its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 31.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,600 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in BCE were worth $2,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BCE by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in BCE by 0.6% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 48,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its position in BCE by 1.9% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company increased its position in BCE by 2.3% during the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 13,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in BCE by 1.0% during the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 31,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Argus cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.26. The stock had a trading volume of 2,080,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,598,333. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.77. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.82 and a 12-month high of $48.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $30.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.92%. 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. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 174.56%.

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.