UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Sells 164,897 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC decreased its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 44.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 203,692 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 164,897 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC's holdings in BCE were worth $4,722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 13,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,835 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 217.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 790 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,631 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthCollab LLC bought a new stake in BCE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. National Bankshares restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.67.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.10 on Friday, hitting $21.77. 2,332,101 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,970,613. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.61. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $36.17. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.26.

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