Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 475,399 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,727,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 475,399 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.41% of BCE worth $146,786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in BCE during the fourth quarter worth $963,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in BCE by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,666,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $105,036,000 after buying an additional 122,913 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in BCE by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 366,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,485,000 after buying an additional 3,095 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 64.3% in the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 4,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BCE. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. 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 research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BCE traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $32.34. 396,570 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,604,275. The stock has a market cap of $29.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.88. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.82 and a 12 month high of $48.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

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

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.18%. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 174.56%.

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.