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

LGT Capital Partners LTD. boosted its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 30.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 approximately 0.08% of BCE worth $29,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. CGC Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in BCE in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 120,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company's stock.

BCE Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $33.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,526,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,976,317. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.37 and a 200 day moving average of $38.58. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.54 and a 12 month high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. Analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.742 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.73%. BCE's dividend payout ratio is currently 175.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on BCE shares. Argus lowered BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on BCE from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. TD Securities lowered BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

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 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.