Northern Trust Corp Has $11.65 Million Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Northern Trust Corp reduced its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 502,464 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 23,371 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.06% of BCE worth $11,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FIL Ltd grew its position in BCE by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $609,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,322,474 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in BCE by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $462,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,624,953 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in BCE by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $368,073,000 after acquiring an additional 411,911 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in BCE by 623.9% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 9,398,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $217,573,000 after acquiring an additional 8,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in BCE by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,028,888 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $139,734,000 after acquiring an additional 168,704 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

BCE Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $21.45. The company had a trading volume of 2,218,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,942,919. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.99 and a 200 day moving average of $23.71. 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 has a market cap of $20.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63. BCE Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.28 and a 1-year high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. The firm's revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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.