Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. Has $3.97 Million Position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 100,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,539 shares during the period. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $3,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BCE by 26.5% in the fourth 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. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 120,000.0% in the third 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 during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 147.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BCE by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Stock Down 1.0 %

BCE traded down $0.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.93. 716,695 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,574,040. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.82 and a fifty-two week high of $48.38. The stock has a market cap of $30.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $34.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for 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, equities analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued 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 9.01%. BCE’s payout ratio is 174.56%.

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.