Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Purchases 755,283 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 6,531.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 766,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 755,283 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. owned 0.08% of BCE worth $17,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in BCE by 27.6% during the 2nd 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 period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,181,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,644,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BCE by 74.9% during 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. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 16,698.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,740,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730,605 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barrington Research upgraded shares of BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $26.29 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.06. BCE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $26.49. The company has a market capitalization of $24.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58.

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

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.46%.

BCE 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.