Tobam Sells 58,883 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Tobam lowered its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 81.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,088 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 58,883 shares during the quarter. Tobam's holdings in BCE were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 217.6% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BCE. Scotiabank upgraded BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, National Bankshares restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.67.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $22.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,596,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,997,362. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $36.17. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $21.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.08. The company has a market cap of $21.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 190.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.65%. BCE's dividend payout ratio is currently 488.46%.

BCE Company 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.