Wells Fargo & Company MN Sells 1,358,424 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Wells Fargo & Company MN reduced its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 73.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 489,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,358,424 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.05% of BCE worth $11,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of BCE by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 43,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in BCE by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in BCE by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in BCE by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 148,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,286,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 24,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. National Bank Financial raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

BCE Price Performance

BCE opened at $21.23 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.57 billion, a PE ratio of 176.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.56. BCE Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $36.17. 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 (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. As a group, analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.6965 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.13%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,291.67%.

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.