BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp lowered its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 9.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 438,075 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 45,578 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in BCE were worth $14,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $500,376,000 after buying an additional 80,879 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in BCE by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $551,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217,262 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of BCE by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $273,553,000 after purchasing an additional 905,857 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of BCE by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of BCE by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,068,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $163,932,000 after purchasing an additional 21,487 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.71. 1,572,443 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,229,141. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.13 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.729 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE's payout ratio is 204.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, National Bank Financial cut BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.67.

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.