DGS Capital Management LLC Sells 2,320 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

DGS Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,320 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in BCE by 53.5% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $742,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661,300 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in BCE by 400.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,857,340 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth $117,492,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in BCE by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in BCE by 83.6% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,418,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,768,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BCE. Argus lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays dropped their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Trading Down 0.6 %

BCE stock opened at $32.22 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.82 and a 12-month high of $48.38. The stock has a market cap of $29.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.39 and its 200 day moving average is $37.92.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.742 per share. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 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.