Center For Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,067 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 720.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 915,522 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,644,000 after acquiring an additional 803,883 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in BCE by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 66,308 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,677,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in BCE by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 99,513 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,519,000 after purchasing an additional 14,372 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in BCE by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,965 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in BCE by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 36,365 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,017,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 43.83% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price target on BCE from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on BCE from C$70.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on BCE from C$68.50 to C$69.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.10.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The company's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 15th will be issued a $0.719 dividend. This is a boost from BCE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.86%.

BCE Company Profile

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BCE Inc, a telecommunications and media 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 wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.

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