Park Place Capital Corp Sells 1,869 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Park Place Capital Corp cut its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,869 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in BCE were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in BCE by 1.4% in 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. lifted its stake in BCE by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,644,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $576,710,000 after purchasing an additional 311,902 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in BCE by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in BCE by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 11,151,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,217,000 after purchasing an additional 435,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in BCE by 20.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,418 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $32.09 on Tuesday. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.82 and a 1 year high of $46.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $33.50 and its 200 day moving average is $35.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The company had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.47 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.738 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.20%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 201.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BCE shares. Argus cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.25.

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.