LGT Capital Partners LTD. Sells 494,676 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. lowered its holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 135,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 494,676 shares during the quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in BCE were worth $4,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the first quarter valued at approximately $886,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $500,376,000 after acquiring an additional 80,879 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in BCE by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,582,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,919,000 after acquiring an additional 402,869 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 202.0% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 12,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 8,584 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. National Bank Financial lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $27.24 on Tuesday. BCE Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.51 and a 52-week high of $41.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 389.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $32.60 and a 200-day moving average of $33.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.737 dividend. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.82%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 4,228.57%.

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.