Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Sells 52,600 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. cut its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 80.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 52,600 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 15,933,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $643,159,000 after purchasing an additional 221,174 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $500,376,000 after purchasing an additional 80,879 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of BCE by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 11,151,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $441,217,000 after purchasing an additional 435,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. raised its position in BCE by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,085,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,678,000 after purchasing an additional 287,261 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $32.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,796,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,326,102. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $30.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.89, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.57. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.18.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.738 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.95%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 201.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BCE. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.33.

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.