Federated Hermes Inc. Has $146.79 Million Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,727,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 475,399 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $146,786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BCE. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in BCE by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 555,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,786,000 after buying an additional 50,975 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of BCE by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 170,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,479,000 after buying an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its stake in shares of BCE by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 117,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,528,000 after buying an additional 27,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of BCE by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 36,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,001,000 after buying an additional 2,616 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, TD Securities lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $32.34. 396,570 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,604,275. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.82 and a 12 month high of $48.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.25 and a 200 day moving average of $37.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $29.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. On average, research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.742 dividend. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 174.56%.

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.