John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 3,286 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lowered its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 245,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,286 shares during the period. BCE makes up approximately 1.5% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $9,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of BCE by 4.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,198,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $580,173,000 after acquiring an additional 661,255 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,332,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $547,084,000 after purchasing an additional 294,626 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in BCE by 53.5% in the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $742,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,661,300 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in BCE by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,895,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $522,794,000 after purchasing an additional 90,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in BCE by 20.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BCE. BMO Capital Markets restated 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. Barclays dropped 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. Argus cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

BCE Trading Up 1.1 %

BCE stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.58. The company had a trading volume of 1,087,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,596,445. The firm has a market cap of $29.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.65. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.82 and a 1 year high of $48.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.84.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.