Fiera Capital Corp Has $315,000 Stock Position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Key Points

• Fiera Capital Corp significantly reduced its holdings in BCE, Inc. by 83.7% in the first quarter, selling over 70,000 shares and now holding only 13,691 shares worth $315,000.
• BCE's recent quarterly earnings reported earnings per share of $0.48, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.44, despite a 1.3% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a dividend with a yield of 5.65%, but its high dividend payout ratio of 488.46% raises concerns about sustainability.

Fiera Capital Corp lowered its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 83.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,691 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 70,358 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp's holdings in BCE were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in BCE by 108,040.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $368,073,000 after buying an additional 411,911 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BCE by 114.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,165 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,384,000 after buying an additional 825,098 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at $1,075,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in BCE in the 1st quarter valued at $248,000. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of several analyst reports. National Bank Financial raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.67.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $23.86. The stock had a trading volume of 2,041,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,051,679. The company's fifty day moving average is $22.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.61. BCE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $36.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 1.82% and a return on equity of 19.22%. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 5.65%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 488.46%.

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.