K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Increases Stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 124,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,690 shares during the quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in BCE were worth $4,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in BCE by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 48,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in BCE by 1.9% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company grew its stake in shares of BCE by 2.3% during the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 13,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in shares of BCE by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 31,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Stock Down 0.8 %

BCE traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,477,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,569,124. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.30, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.59 and its 200-day moving average is $37.67. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.82 and a 1 year high of $48.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. As a group, research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.742 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.10%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 173.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BCE shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

BCE Company 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.