Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Purchases 85,725 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,033,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,725 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.11% of BCE worth $24,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in BCE by 99.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,006,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,682,000 after buying an additional 6,981,281 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in BCE by 24.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,006,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $133,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192,504 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. raised its position in BCE by 8.6% in the second quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 5,647,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,004,000 after purchasing an additional 445,680 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BCE in the second quarter worth about $81,315,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 34.7% during the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,200,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,951,000 after purchasing an additional 825,280 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 28th. Barrington Research raised shares of BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $25.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.60. BCE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $26.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.92.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given 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 6.8%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 25.46%.

BCE Company 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.