BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by XML Financial LLC

XML Financial LLC lessened its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 37.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,268 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,385 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $624,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BCE. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in BCE during the 2nd quarter worth $195,000. CFM Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BCE by 22.5% in the second quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors increased its holdings in BCE by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 40,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its position in shares of BCE by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of BCE by 1.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 103,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,340,000 after buying an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Cibc World Mkts raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock traded up $0.09 on Wednesday, hitting $34.62. 964,506 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,278,135. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $31.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year high of $42.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.21 and a 200-day moving average of $34.18.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.729 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.42%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 200.69%.

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.