BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Stock Holdings Cut by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 9.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,864,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 197,077 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned 0.20% of BCE worth $42,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BCE. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in BCE during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. WealthCollab LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of BCE by 67.1% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 3,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 1,329 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BCE by 77.2% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,891 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cibc World Mkts downgraded BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Scotiabank raised BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.67.

BCE Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE BCE traded up $0.25 on Friday, hitting $23.58. 3,105,777 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,777,805. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.82 and a 200 day moving average of $22.79. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $36.17. The company has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40.

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

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a yield of 565.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. BCE's dividend payout ratio is 488.46%.

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.