Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Acquires 96,600 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. boosted its position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 729,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,600 shares during the period. BCE makes up approximately 1.6% of Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings in BCE were worth $17,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BCE. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in BCE by 735.3% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in BCE by 64.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc increased its position in BCE by 34.6% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 3,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in BCE by 92.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 2,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in BCE in the third quarter worth $96,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Barrington Research raised BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Securities downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.67.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $24.61 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a PE ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.48. BCE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.09 and a fifty-two week high of $26.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.50 and a 200-day moving average of $24.35.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 25.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. BCE’s payout ratio is 26.02%.

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.