Mackenzie Financial Corp Sells 173,450 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,061,907 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 173,450 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 0.23% of BCE worth $47,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in shares of BCE by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 13,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in BCE by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,835 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 217.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of BCE by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,631 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthCollab LLC purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. National Bank Financial raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.67.

BCE Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of BCE traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $21.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,083,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,946,222. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 181.71, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.47. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.28 and a 52-week high of $36.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The business's revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE 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.