Merit Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Merit Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,172 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BCE. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 239.9% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of BCE in the third quarter worth $30,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 26.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 120,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in BCE by 147.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.4 %

BCE stock opened at $33.61 on Thursday. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $31.82 and a one year high of $48.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.97 and a 200 day moving average of $37.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $30.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 7.53%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.738 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.78%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.