BCE, Inc. $BCE Shares Acquired by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 27.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 251,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in BCE were worth $6,329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FIL Ltd increased its stake in BCE by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 37,579,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $896,398,000 after buying an additional 1,992,000 shares in the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 34,107,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $797,161,000 after acquiring an additional 3,024,110 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,020,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $429,834,000 after purchasing an additional 700,797 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in BCE by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,136,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $408,749,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its holdings in BCE by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 8,744,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,459,000 after purchasing an additional 511,011 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BCE shares. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of BCE from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. TD Securities upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.00.

BCE Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of BCE opened at $21.80 on Wednesday. BCE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.87 and a 52-week high of $26.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.25. The company has a market capitalization of $20.33 billion, a PE ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.52.

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. BCE had a net margin of 25.66% and a return on equity of 13.87%. The firm had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

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.