Swiss National Bank Sells 8,800 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 211,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in BCE were worth $4,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in BCE by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,421,000 after purchasing an additional 864,472 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter valued at $17,271,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter worth $9,522,000. Finally, Nicola Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new position in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at $8,989,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $22.53 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $20.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 187.71, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.87 and a 12-month high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. Sell-side analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.6965 dividend. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,291.67%.

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.