Truist Financial Corp Cuts Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Truist Financial Corp reduced its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 80.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 316,802 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,877,000 after buying an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in BCE by 4.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,421,000 after acquiring an additional 864,472 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,271,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after purchasing an additional 738,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 66.4% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,360,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,320,000 after purchasing an additional 543,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on BCE in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:BCE opened at $23.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $21.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 194.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a one year low of $21.87 and a one year high of $37.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.72.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. Sell-side analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.6965 dividend. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,350.00%.

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.