BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Holdings Decreased by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its position in BCE by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 4,634,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047,062 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in BCE by 100.7% during the 4th quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 11,078 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in BCE by 103.6% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 129,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,991,000 after acquiring an additional 65,648 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in BCE during the 4th quarter worth $1,272,000. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter worth $294,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $21.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $36.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.34. The firm has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 182.96, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.92 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. Analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank upgraded BCE from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

BCE Company 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.