Norges Bank Buys Shares of 3,848,869 BCE, Inc. $BCE

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,848,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $91,811,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 0.41% of BCE at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 74.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,598,000 after purchasing an additional 267,313 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in BCE by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,806,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,034,000 after purchasing an additional 65,650 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,319,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $404,701,000 after purchasing an additional 608,264 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,848,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $91,794,000 after purchasing an additional 727,860 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in BCE by 2,287.8% during the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 587,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,727,000 after purchasing an additional 562,884 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of BCE stock opened at $24.44 on Friday. BCE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.58 and a 1-year high of $26.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $24.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $22.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.50.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 25.66%.The firm had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. The firm’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. On average, research analysts expect that BCE, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is 26.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, TD Securities downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.