Achmea Investment Management B.V. Sells 24,000 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. reduced its position in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 18.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,000 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in BCE were worth $2,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,028,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,734,000 after purchasing an additional 168,704 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in BCE by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after purchasing an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in BCE by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lincluden Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in BCE by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 1,615,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,457,000 after purchasing an additional 237,903 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of BCE in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. Bank of America downgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

BCE Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $23.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 195.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.92. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.87 and a 52-week 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%. Analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.6965 per share. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.