Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Sells 330 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lowered its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 330 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in BCE were worth $205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in BCE in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in BCE by 120,000.0% in the third 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. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in BCE by 147.7% in 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 buying an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC boosted its position in BCE by 35.7% in the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $32.99. 696,267 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,573,520. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.82 and a fifty-two week 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 fifty day simple moving average of $34.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.77. The firm has a market cap of $30.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders 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. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 174.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.