Avanza Fonder AB Purchases 21,088 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Avanza Fonder AB raised its position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 79.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,088 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in BCE were worth $1,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 267,313 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in BCE by 16,698.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,740,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730,605 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in BCE by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 593,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,146,000 after purchasing an additional 27,397 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BCE by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,319,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $404,701,000 after purchasing an additional 608,264 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of BCE by 99.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,981,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.67.

BCE Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of BCE opened at $25.82 on Wednesday. BCE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $26.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.60 and a 200 day moving average of $24.16. The firm has a market cap of $24.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.55 billion. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The company’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.07%.

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.