BCE, Inc. $BCE Shares Bought by Natixis

Natixis grew its holdings in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 28.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 198,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,367 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in BCE were worth $4,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in BCE by 27.6% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,627,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,755,000 after purchasing an additional 352,151 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,181,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,644,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 567,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,034,000 after acquiring an additional 65,230 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the 1st quarter worth about $268,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $23.22 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.42. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $26.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.05. BCE had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 25.62%.The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Cibc Captl Mkts raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

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.