Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Has $472,000 Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 22.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,690 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in BCE were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $368,073,000 after purchasing an additional 411,911 shares during the period. Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,504,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its position in BCE by 594.6% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 64,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after acquiring an additional 54,821 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in BCE by 119.6% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 37,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,286 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter worth $6,565,000. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, National Bankshares reaffirmed 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, seven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock opened at $22.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.16 billion, a PE ratio of 191.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.07. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.87 and a fifty-two week high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. Analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.6965 per share. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,291.67%.

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.