BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Stock Holdings Cut by ORG Partners LLC

ORG Partners LLC lessened its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 48.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,235 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BCE. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in BCE in the fourth quarter worth about $150,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,351,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,599,000 after buying an additional 1,033,134 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,644,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $576,710,000 after purchasing an additional 311,902 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth approximately $338,000. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC raised its stake in BCE by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. Barclays dropped their target price on BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.33.

BCE Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $33.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.68 and its 200-day moving average is $33.71. The company has a market cap of $30.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.13 and a 52-week high of $41.77.

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

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.729 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.72%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 204.86%.

BCE 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.