D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 3,641 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 14.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,641 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in BCE were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 170.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,679,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $268,164,000 after acquiring an additional 7,365,253 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 36.1% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 25,249,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,458,000 after acquiring an additional 6,697,900 shares during the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 94.4% in the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 10,649,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $243,966,000 after acquiring an additional 5,171,655 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 50.9% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 14,181,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $325,559,000 after acquiring an additional 4,783,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,844,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after acquiring an additional 815,614 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on BCE shares. Desjardins upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. National Bankshares reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 15th. CIBC reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

BCE Stock Down 0.3%

BCE stock opened at $23.51 on Thursday. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $32.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.15. The company has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.06). BCE had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The company had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 437.93%.

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.