BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Shares Sold by Quantinno Capital Management LP

Quantinno Capital Management LP reduced its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 46.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 21,949 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in BCE were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BCE. Barclays PLC raised its stake in BCE by 78.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 52,966 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in BCE by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,981 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in BCE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,522,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its stake in BCE by 640.0% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 2,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in BCE by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,223 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 3,686 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE traded down $0.33 on Wednesday, hitting $21.16. 2,224,118 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,946,180. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $21.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.53. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $36.17. The firm has a market cap of $19.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 176.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63.

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

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.