Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Has $247,000 Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC cut its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 37.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,399 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 31,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 84.1% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in BCE by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its position in BCE by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 21,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $865,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $32.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.82 and a 52-week high of $46.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. Research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.738 dividend. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is 201.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Argus downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.25.

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.