BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by Rathbones Group PLC

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC reduced its stake in BCE, Inc. by 24.8%, ending the quarter with 43,318 shares valued at approximately $994,000.
• Major institutional investors, including Geode Capital Management and Invesco Ltd., significantly increased their positions in BCE during the fourth quarter, demonstrating growing interest in the company.
• BCE recently reported earnings that missed estimates, with an EPS of $0.46 and a revenue of $4.47 billion, while also announcing a dividend cut with a payout ratio of 437.93%.

Rathbones Group PLC trimmed its stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 24.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 43,318 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 14,285 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in BCE were worth $994,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 114.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,165 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,384,000 after buying an additional 825,098 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in BCE by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,405,560 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,761,000 after acquiring an additional 423,912 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in BCE during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,233,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in BCE by 145.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 295,190 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,841,000 after acquiring an additional 174,728 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its stake in BCE by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,558 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,265,000 after acquiring an additional 8,608 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BCE shares. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, August 8th. Desjardins upgraded shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts cut shares of BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.67.

BCE Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $25.09 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.83. BCE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.28 and a 52-week high of $36.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.91 billion. BCE had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 18.89%. BCE's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 565.0%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 437.93%.

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.

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