Timelo Investment Management Inc. Sells 55,000 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Timelo Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 50.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 55,000 shares during the quarter. BCE accounts for approximately 1.9% of Timelo Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Timelo Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in BCE were worth $2,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in BCE by 53.5% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $742,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661,300 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in BCE by 400.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $136,294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,857,340 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in BCE by 171.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,284,802 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $168,736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708,625 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at about $117,492,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at about $85,840,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on BCE from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. TD Securities cut BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Argus cut BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $49.75.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCE traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $32.93. The company had a trading volume of 2,080,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,100,391. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $36.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.26. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.38 and a fifty-two week high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.742 dividend. This is an increase from BCE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio is currently 174.56%.

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.