Fiduciary Alliance LLC Acquires 1,429 Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in BCE by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,421,000 after purchasing an additional 864,472 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,800 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 130.1% during the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,200,000 after acquiring an additional 165,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in BCE by 78.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 52,966 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of BCE in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating for the company. Bank of America lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $22.56 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The firm has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 322.29, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.81. BCE Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.87 and a 12-month high of $41.77.

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 represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.07%. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 4,028.57%.

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 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.