Argent Trust Co Has $226,000 Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Argent Trust Co trimmed its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,554 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in BCE were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BCE. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth $97,874,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 862,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,983,000 after buying an additional 212,047 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in BCE by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in BCE by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 40,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,586,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BCE Stock Down 0.4 %

BCE opened at $35.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.13 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $34.48 and a 200-day moving average of $33.83.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is 204.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BCE. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.67.

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.