LGT Capital Partners LTD. Buys 176,375 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. lifted its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 30.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 757,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 176,375 shares during the quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. owned about 0.08% of BCE worth $29,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in BCE by 53.5% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $742,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,661,300 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 400.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $136,294,000 after buying an additional 2,857,340 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth $117,492,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in BCE by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,007,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,202,000 after buying an additional 1,893,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in BCE by 83.6% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,418,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,768,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,200 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $33.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.61. BCE Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.54 and a 52 week high of $48.38. The company has a market capitalization of $31.00 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. As a group, analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.742 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.73%. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 175.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Argus downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.00.

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 three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers integrated digital wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.