BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by Gold Investment Management Ltd.

Gold Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 88,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 16,947 shares during the quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in BCE were worth $2,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in BCE by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,421,000 after purchasing an additional 864,472 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BCE by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,028,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,734,000 after purchasing an additional 168,704 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 48.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,877,000 after buying an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in BCE by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,945,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,085,000 after buying an additional 584,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $39.00 target price 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. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $23.45 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.64 and a 200-day moving average of $27.82. The firm has a market cap of $21.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 195.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. BCE Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.87 and a twelve month high of $36.17.

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

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 11.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.