Nuveen Asset Management LLC Sells 547 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 71,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in BCE by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 52,966 shares in the last quarter. Tobam raised its position in BCE by 198.0% in the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 71,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after purchasing an additional 47,816 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in BCE by 154.8% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 52,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,607 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at $8,233,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its position in BCE by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 562,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,037,000 after purchasing an additional 48,997 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of BCE stock opened at $21.96 on Wednesday. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $36.17. The business has a 50-day moving average of $21.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.34. The company has a market capitalization of $20.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 182.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.92 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. BCE’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded BCE from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

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.