Legal & General Group Plc Buys 311,782 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,533,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 311,782 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in BCE were worth $60,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 74.9% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,598,000 after buying an additional 267,313 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in BCE by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,806,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,034,000 after buying an additional 65,650 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 3.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,319,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $404,701,000 after buying an additional 608,264 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in BCE by 77.6% in the third quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,389,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $149,459,000 after buying an additional 2,792,485 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,848,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $91,794,000 after buying an additional 727,860 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $25.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.19 and a twelve month high of $26.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $24.41 and its 200-day moving average is $24.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 25.66%.The company had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. BCE’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BCE shares. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.67.

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.