Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Has $39.55 Million Stock Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 99.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,692,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 845,961 shares during the quarter. BCE makes up approximately 1.2% of Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $39,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BCE. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BCE during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in BCE by 2,459.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in BCE during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in BCE by 81.0% during the 3rd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 229.1% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 2,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BCE. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Barrington Research upgraded shares of BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $25.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.99. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $26.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.55 billion. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 16.30%. BCE’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. BCE’s payout ratio is 25.46%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.