CIBC Asset Management Inc Sells 880,705 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

CIBC Asset Management Inc decreased its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,595,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 880,705 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc owned 0.50% of BCE worth $106,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BCE. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of BCE by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 947 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in BCE by 6.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 59,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,372 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in BCE by 9.1% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 12,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd purchased a new position in shares of BCE in the 3rd quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of BCE by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 20,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 5,362 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock opened at $23.86 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 198.79, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.33. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.14.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 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%. As a group, analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.6965 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.68%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 2,350.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Jones lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America lowered BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.50.

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.