BCE, Inc. $BCE Shares Purchased by Canerector Inc.

Canerector Inc. boosted its stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 3,152.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,130,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,880,000 shares during the quarter. BCE makes up approximately 0.4% of Canerector Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Canerector Inc. owned approximately 0.87% of BCE worth $190,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BCE during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in BCE by 81.0% in the 3rd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in BCE by 340.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $26.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.07. BCE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $26.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 26.14%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is 25.46%.

About BCE

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.