BCE (NYSE:BCE) Lowered to Underweight Rating by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) was downgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

BCE has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America cut shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Jones cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

BCE Stock Down 5.4 %

BCE opened at $23.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.18 and a 200 day moving average of $29.86. The company has a market cap of $21.49 billion, a PE ratio of 336.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.57. BCE has a 12 month low of $21.87 and a 12 month high of $39.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.76% and a return on equity of 17.58%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 864,472 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in BCE by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,028,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $139,734,000 after purchasing an additional 168,704 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in BCE by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after purchasing an additional 738,656 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in BCE by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in BCE by 3,355.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,852,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798,427 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

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.